Aims: To assess whether treatment with statins or renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors as potential procedural 'augmenting agents' improved atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation recurrence rates in post-menopausal females (PMFS).
Methods and results: Five hundred and eighteen consecutive female patients had undergone AF catheter ablation from January 2005 to May 2008. Post-menopausal females were selected and procedure outcomes were compared between cohorts of PMFS treated with statins or RAAS inhibitors to untreated PMFS. Out of 408 PMFS, 36 (8.8%) were treated with a combination of RAAS inhibitors and statins, thus were excluded leaving a total of 372 (91.2%) patients in the study. Out of 372 patients, 111 (29.8%) were on statins (Group 1), 59 (15.9%) on RAAS inhibitors (Group 2), and 202 (54.3%) without RAAS inhibitors or statins [(Group 3) control population]. Over a mean follow-up time of 24 +/- 8.3 (median 25) months, 78 (70.6%) in Group 1, 38 (65.4%) in Group 2, and 139 (68.8%) in Group 3 had procedural success. Statin or RAAS inhibitor use did not predict lower recurrence rates [hazard ratio (HR): 1.26, P = 0.282 and HR: 1.14, P = 0.728, respectively]. When compared with controls, no difference in the cumulative incidence of recurrence was found with statin or RAAS inhibitors use (P = 0.385 and P = 0.761, respectively).
Conclusion: Treatment with statins or RAAS inhibitors did not improve catheter ablation success rates among PMFS. Thereby, from a clinical standpoint, PMFS should not be started on these treatments as a procedural 'augmenting agent' at this time.