Table 1: Characteristics of the included studies
Study authors Magnocavallo et al. [17]                                        Elgendy et al. [18] Şaylık et al. [19] Yu et al. [20] Pan et al. [21] Zhu et al. [22]
No. of studies included   9 6 10 8 6 3
Year of Publication   2022 2018 2023 2022 2021 2016
Type of studies included   RCTs RCTs RCTs RCTs RCTs RCTs
Total No. of patients   2155 775 2187 1693 775 143
No. of patients in CA group   1077 388 NM 834 388 71
No. of patients in MT group   1078 387 NM 859 387 68
Type of ablation strategy Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), CFAE Ablation, Posterior Wall Isolation, SVC Isolation, Elimination of AF Triggers, Linear Ablation of the Left Atrial Roof, Cavotricuspid Isthmus and/or Mitral Isthmus   PVI PVI PVI, and most of the studies reported additional linear ablation and CFAE Ablation PVI PVI
Type of Medical therapy Medical rhythm and rate control drugs (Amiodarone, class IA, IC, or III) Rate/rhythm control drugs (+Amiodarone) Rate/rhythm control drugs Rate/rhythm control drugs Rate/rhythm control drugs Rate control drugs
Follow-up duration (months)   12 26 12 12 16 12
Type of AF   Paroxysmal/Persistent Paroxysmal/Persistent Paroxysmal/Persistent Paroxysmal/Persistent Paroxysmal/Persistent Persistent
Primary outcomes All-cause mortality and HF hospitalization   All-cause mortality NM All-cause mortality All-cause mortality ∆LVEF
Secondary outcomes CV death, AF recurrence rate, ∆LVEF, ∆MLHFQ, ∆VO2 max, ∆6MWT, and ∆BNP levels HF hospitalizations, stroke, left ventricular EF improvement, Δ6MWT, ΔMLHFQ NM Hospitalization due to HF and the change in LVEF, 6MWT distance, peak VO2, ΔMLHFQ Hospitalization for HF, remained in AF, change in LVEF, 6-minute walk distance, and MLHFQ.   Changes in cardiac function, exercise capacity, and QOL.