Risk factors of atrial fibrillation in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with WPW syndrome may be a life-threatening arrhythmia. AIM: To identify risk factors of AF and their prognostic significance in patients with WPW syndrome. METHODS: Clinical and electrophysiological parameters of 239 patients with WPW syndrome, who underwent successful RF ablation, were analysed using logistic regression and multivariate analysis. One hundred eight patients had no history of AF whereas the remaining 81 patients had previous spontaneous AF episodes. Long-term follow-up data (mean 29+/-23 months, range 1-99 months) were available in 136 patients (87 without AF and 49 with AF). RESULTS: Patients with AF were significantly older, more frequently of male gender and had more often a history of syncope than patients without AF. There were two peaks of AF occurrence - in the third and in the fifth decade of life. Fourteen patients had a history of ventricular fibrillation - 11 patients with AF vs 3 patients without AF (p=0.0016). Patients with a history of AF were more prone to AF induced during electrophysiological study and had less frequently concealed accessory pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Age, gender and a history of syncope are the independent risk factors of AF in patients with WPW syndrome. Anterograde conduction via accessory pathway is of major importance in the development of AF. RF ablation of an accessory pathway should be performed early because the risk of the procedure is small and there is an increasing risk of AF with ageing.