Introduction: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). This study aimed to investigate the effect of GERD on pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) outcomes in patients with paroxysmal AF.
Methods: 88 consecutive patients (60 males, 55.63±13.13 years) with symptomatic paroxysmal AF underwent (PVI). All subjects underwent pre-procedural assessment for the presence of GERD by clinical symptoms and empiric trial of acid suppression with a proton pump inhibitor.
Results: Clinical evaluation revealed GERD in 34 (38.6%) patients. Following a mean follow-up period of 8.31±3.05 months, 63 (71.6%) patients were free from arrhythmia recurrence. The incidence of GERD was significantly higher in patients with AF recurrence (80%) in relation to those who maintained sinus rhythm (22.2%) (p< 0.001). Coronary artery disease (p=0.02) and hypertension (p=0.02) were also significantly associated with AF recurrence. Furthermore, patients with AF recurrence displayed an increased left atrial diameter (LAD) (p<0.01). In multivariate regression analysis, GERD and LAD were significantly and independently associated with AF recurrence (p<0.05).
Conclusions: In this study population GERD was an independent predictor of AF recurrence after PVI.