THURSDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Increased levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with a greater risk of electrical cardioversion failure in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation, researchers report in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
Tong Liu, Ph.D., of Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China, and colleagues performed a meta-analysis of six prospective observational cohort studies to examine the association between baseline CRP levels and the immediate success of electrical cardioversion in persistent atrial fibrillation. The studies involved 366 patients -- 297 in the successful electrical cardioversion group and 69 in the failed group -- and were published in November 2007 or earlier.
The researchers found that CRP levels were higher in the patients that experienced failed electrical cardioversion. The standardized mean difference in the CRP levels between patients with successful and failed electrical cardioversion was -0.41 units, and the Z score for overall effect was 2.98, the report indicates.
"Although further studies are required, our findings suggest that measurement of CRP before cardioversion may provide prognostic information regarding the success of the procedure," the authors write.
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