Temporal Association Between Atrial Fibrillation Burden in Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices and the Risk of Heart Failure Hospitalization

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) events in cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are temporally associated with stroke risk. This study explores temporal differences in AF burden associated with HF hospitalization risk in patients with CIEDs. METHODS: Patients with HF events from the Optum de-identified Electronic Health Records from 2007 to 2021 and 120 days of preceding CIED-derived rhythm data from a linked manufacturer's data warehouse were included. AF burden >= 5.5 h/d was defined as an AF event. The AF event burden in the case period (days 1-30 immediately before the HF event) was considered temporally associated with the HF event and compared with the AF event burden in a temporally dissociated control period (days 91-120 before the HF event). The odds ratio for temporally associated HF events and the odds ratio associated with poorly rate-controlled AF (>110 bpm) were calculated. RESULTS: In total, 7257 HF events with prerequisite CIED data were included; 957 (13.2%) patients had AF events recorded only in either their case (763 [10.5%]) or control (194 [2.7%]) periods, but not both. The odds ratio for a temporally associated HF event was 3.93 (95% CI, 3.36-4.60). This was greater for an HF event with a longer stay of >3 days (odds ratio, 4.51 [95% CI, 3.57-5.68]). In patients with AF during both the control and case periods, poor AF rate control during the case period also increased HF event risk (1.78 [95% CI, 1.22-2.61]). In all, 222 of 4759 (5%) patients without AF events before their HF event had an AF event in the 10 days following. CONCLUSIONS: In a large real-world population of patients with CIED devices, AF burden was associated with HF hospitalization risk in the subsequent 30 days. The risk is increased with AF and an uncontrolled ventricular rate. Our findings support AF monitoring in CIED algorithms to prevent HF admissions.