Relationship of troponin to incident atrial fibrillation occurrence, recurrence after radiofrequency ablation and prognosis: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression

AbstractObjective: To explore the association between the levels of troponin (Tn) and incident atrial fibrillation (AF) occurrence, AF recurrence after radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and the risk trend of AF related prognosis (stroke, major bleeding and mortality).Methods: Twenty-seven studies were included after a systematic search in PubMed from 2005 to 2017, including 13 associated with incident AF occurrence, 8 associated with AF recurrence after RFA and 6 studies evaluating the risk trend of AF-related prognosis with increased Tn levels.Results: Compared with ‘no incident AF occurrence’ patients, the incident AF occurrence group had similar baseline troponin I (TnI) levels (standardized mean differences [SMD] = 0.42, 95% CI: −0.02–0.86, p = 0.06; I2 = 87.0%, N = 6), but higher troponin T (TnT) levels (SMD = 3.77, 2.13–5.42, p <0.001; I2=99.7%, N = 8). AF recurrence patients had similar peri-ablation TnI levels, but higher peri-ablation TnT levels compared to the ‘no AF recurrence’ group with pooled S...