Therapy

Cardioversion is less likely to be successful in the long term if your patient 

• has had AF for more than 3 months ^a
• has severe heart failure ^a
• is old ^a

• non-rheumatic mitral valve disease ^a

Why?

The duration of AF, severe heart failure and increasing age reduce the long-term success of cardioversion

Patient	Prognostic Factor	Outcome	CER	OR (95% CI)	NNF+ (95% CI)
Cardioverted out of chronic AF a	AF for 3-35 months independent	chronic AF at 4 years	21%	2.1 (1.3 to 3.4)	7 (4 to 21)
	AF for 36 or months independent		3.0%	5.0 (3.0 to 8.3)	10 (6 to 18)
	NYHA class III independent		27%	1.8 (1.3 to 2.6)	8 (5 to 18)
	Aged > 56 years independent		18%	1.5 (1.0 to 2.2)	15 (7 to inf)v