Assessing atrial fibrillation–related quality of life improvements one year after ablation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Yergeshov K. Kulzhanov M. Abdrakhmanov A. Ramazanov M. Anartayev S.
28 October 2025Mattioli 1885
Acta Biomedica
2025#96Issue 5
Background and aim: This systematic review and meta-analysis quantify the magnitude of change in overall and domain-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation and evaluate the consistency of these improvements across different study designs. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in four electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, using a standard search strategy. Mean differences in Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) questionnaire with 95 % confidence intervals were calculated in R using meta and metafor packages. Results: Our meta-analysis of 14 studies involving 25,507 patients demonstrates that AF ablation yields substantial and clinically meaningful quality-of-life gains at 12 months: the pooled overall AFEQT score improved by 25.7 points (21.7–29.6), with domain-specific increases of 23.6 points in symptoms (19.1–28.0); 28.2 points in daily activities (24.0–32.5), 23.6 points in treatment concern (19.2–28.0), and 24.9 points in treatment satisfaction (18.9–31.0). Conclusions: AF ablation yields large, clinically meaningful HRQoL improvements across all AFEQT domains. Routine integration of AFEQT monitoring into clinical pathways is warranted. Future studies should standardize protocols, extend follow-up beyond one year, and target domains with smaller gains to sustain benefits.
AFEQT questionnaire , atrial fibrillation , catheter ablation , health-related quality of life , meta-analysis , patient-reported outcomes , quality-of-life domains , systematic review
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Department of Public Health and Social Sciences, Kazakhstan Medical University “KSPH”, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Policy and Management, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Cardiology, Astana Medical University, National Coordination Center for Emergency Medicine, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Science and Education, National Coordination Center for Emergency Medicine, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Surgery No. 1, Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Medicine, City Clinical Hospital No. 7, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Interventional Cardiology and Endovascular Surgery, City Clinical Hospital No. 7, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Public Health and Social Sciences
Department of Policy and Management
Department of Cardiology
Department of Science and Education
Department of Surgery No. 1
Department of Medicine
Department of Interventional Cardiology and Endovascular Surgery
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