Effect of atrial fibrillation in Asian patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents for stable coronary artery disease Results from a Korean nationwide study

Although the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are increasing in Asia, there is a paucity of data concerning the effect of AF in Asian patients undergoing PCI with drug-eluting stents (DESs). Furthermore, the majority of previous studies investigating the effect of AF on prognosis following PCI have exclusively evaluated patients with myocardial infarction (MI). We aimed to evaluate the effect of AF on clinical outcomes of Asian patients undergoing PCI with DES for coronary artery disease (CAD) excluding acute MI. From national health insurance claims data in South Korea, a total of 45,288 patients aged 18 years or older without a known history of CAD, who underwent PCI with DES for the diagnosis of CAD excluding acute MI between 2011 and 2015, were enrolled. Based on the presence or absence of a history of AF at baseline, patients were categorized into the AF group (n=1715, 3.8%) and no-AF group (n=43,573, 96.2%). Outcomes including all-cause death, the composite outcome of all-cause death/MI/coronary revascularization, and stroke were compared between 2 groups using a propensity-score-matched analysis. After propensity-score matching, 1709 matched pairs were obtained. During the follow-up period (mean, 2.2 years), the incidence of all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR] 1.117, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.885-1.411, P=.35) and the composite outcome of all-cause death/MI/coronary revascularization (HR 1.004, 95% CI 0.846-1.192, P=.97) were not significantly different between 2 groups. However, the incidence of stroke was significantly increased in the AF group (HR 1.983, 95% CI 1.474-2.667, P<.001). In Asian patients undergoing PCI for stable CAD, a history of AF was not associated with mortality, but was associated with increased risk of stroke.