Background. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias in clinical practice. Although fat is currently considered to be a risk factor for AF and a pathogenic link between epicardial fat tissue (EFT) and AF has been speculated, there are currently few clinical studies and literature data domestically or abroad. Objective. This study conducted a meta-analysis of observational case series studies to verify the relationship between atrial fibrillation and EFT and to strengthen the predictive value of EFT in the occurrence, development, and postablative recurrence of AF. Methods. We conducted a systematic search of the literature in electronic databases until December 2021 and supplemented this through manual searches of individual studies, reviewed articles, and reference lists in conference proceedings. This study conducted a meta-analysis to compare the differences between different populations, such as healthy participants and AF patients, healthy subjects and AF subtype cases, and paroxysmal and persistent AF with AF recurrence and without AF recurrence after ablation. Results. Following the retrieval of 828 articles, only 22 articles were selected as research results. Accordingly, the meta-analysis results show that the volume of EFT in AF is greater than that in healthy subjects (MD = 39.34 ml, 95% CI = 27.11, 51.58); persistent AF is greater than paroxysmal AF (MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27); and recurrence after ablation is greater than without recurrence (MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27). Conclusion. The results of this study further confirm the connection between EFT and AF and that EFT has a certain predictive value for the occurrence and development of AF.

中文翻译：

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心外膜脂肪组织体积在房颤发生和发展中的预测价值：系统评价和荟萃分析

背景。心房颤动（AF）是临床上最常见的心律失常之一。虽然脂肪目前被认为是 AF 的危险因素，并且推测心外膜脂肪组织（EFT）与 AF 之间存在致病联系，但目前国内外临床研究和文献资料较少。客观。本研究对观察性病例系列研究进行荟萃分析，以验证房颤与 EFT 之间的关系，并加强 EFT 在 AF 发生、发展和消融后复发中的预测价值。方法. 我们对电子数据库中的文献进行了系统搜索，直到 2021 年 12 月，并通过手动搜索单个研究、评论文章和会议论文集中的参考列表来补充这一点。本研究进行了一项荟萃分析，比较不同人群之间的差异，例如健康参与者和 AF 患者、健康受试者和 AF 亚型病例，以及消融后伴有 AF 复发和无 AF 复发的阵发性和持续性 AF。结果. 在检索到828篇文章后，只有22篇文章被选为研究成果。因此，荟萃分析结果表明，AF 患者的 EFT 体积大于健康受试者（MD = 39.34 ml, 95% CI = 27.11, 51.58）；持续性 AF 大于阵发性 AF (MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27)；并且消融后的复发大于没有复发（MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27）。结论。本研究结果进一步证实了 EFT 与 AF 之间的联系，EFT 对 AF 的发生发展具有一定的预测价值。