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Figure 3 The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of death, adverse events, and atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in the ablation group as compared with the medical group. In A and B, for each covariate, the corresponding HR and 95% CI are represented before (blue line) and after (red line) the introduction into the Cox model of maintenance of sinus rhythm (SR) as time-dependent variables. There was evidence of nonproportional hazards between the two treatment groups over time (p < 0.001) for recurrent AF, with a significant treatment interaction (p < 0.001); the corresponding HR for ablation was 0.30 (95% CI, 0.24 to 0.37) and must be interpreted as an average value during the entire follow-up period (C), as well as the other HRs indicated by asterisks (*) in A and B. By entering maintenance of SR, ablation patients’ HRs for the risk of all-cause death and adverse events went from 0.46 (95% CI, 0.31 to 0.68; p < 0.001) and 0.45 (95% CI, 0.31 to 0.64; p < 0.001) to 0.66 (95% CI, 0.44 to 0.97; p = 0.04) and 0.61 (95% CI, 0.42 to 0.86; p = 0.007), respectively. CAD = coronary artery disease; EF = ejection fraction; LA = left atrial; LV = left ventricular; TIA = transient ischemic attack.
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