Predictors for postoperative AF, in meta-analyses of observational studies
| Author, year | Predictor | Exposed/unexposed as included in MA | k | n/N | Metric | ES (95% CI) | P | PI include null value | I2 | SSE | ESB | LS sign | CE | CES2 (n>1000) | AMSTAR 2 quality |
| Angsubhakorn 2020 | Non-transfemoral transcatheter AVR | Transfemoral transcatheter AVR or non-transfemoral AVR | 7 | 1262/5681 | RR | 2.95 (2.43 to 3.58) | 8.2×10–28 | No | 40.62 | No | No | Yes | I | I | Critically low |
| Liu 2020 | Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio | High or low neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio | 12 | 1330/9262 | OR | 1.39 (1.26 to 1.53) | 1.9×10–11 | No | 95.15 | No | Yes | Yes | II | II | High |
| Zhou 2017 | Preoperative hypertension | Preoperative hypertension or normotension | 25 | 92658/130087 | RR | 1.07 (1.0.5 to 1.09) | 9.1×10–15 | No | 54.88 | No | Yes | Yes | II | II | Moderate |
| Litton 2012 | Preoperative BNP/NT-proBNP | High BNP/NT-proBNP or low BNP/NT-proBNP | 4 | 530/1115 | OR | 2.89 (1.04 to 8.04) | 0.041 | Yes | 91.23 | No | No | Yes | IV | IV | Critically low |
| Phan 2016 | Obesity | Obese or not | 32 | 16608/86984 | OR | 1.21 (1.06 to 1.38) | 0.006 | Yes | 89.36 | No | Yes | No | IV | IV | High |
| Liu 2018 | Blood transfusion | Blood transfusion or not | 8 | 7491/31069 | OR | 1.55 (1.08 to 2.21) | 0.016 | Yes | 97.09 | No | Yes | Yes | IV | IV | High |
| Qaddoura 2014 | OSAS | OSAS or not | 7 | 264/700 | OR | 1.84 (1.14 to 2.96) | 0.012 | Yes | 51.69 | No | No | Yes | IV | IV | Moderate |
| Sun 2020 | RAASi | RAASi use in TAVR or not | 2 | 280/1532 | RR | 0.73 (0.59 to 0.91) | 0.004 | NP | 0.45 | NP | No | Yes | IV | IV | Moderate |
| Chen 2020 | CHA2DS2-VASC SCORE | CHA2DS2-VASc≥2 or CHA2DS2-VASc<2 | 8 | NA/NA | OR | 1.46 (1.25 to 1.72) | 3.2×10–6 | Yes | 0.000 | Yes | NA | Yes | IV | III | Moderate |
| Athanasiou 2004 | Off-pump elderly | Off-pump or not | 8 | 809/3017 | OR | 0.70 (0.51 to 0.95) | 0.022 | Yes | 49.07 | No | NP | Yes | IV | IV | Critically low |
| Guan 2020 | Off-pump | On- or off-pump CABG | 13 | 6431/31039 | OR | 0.94 (0.79 to 1.12) | 0.515 | Yes | 0.073 | No | NP | No | NS | NS | High |
| Yousuf Salmasi 2020 | Mini sternotomy | Mini-sternotomy or right anterior thoracotomy | 5 | 616/2234 | OR | 0.67 (0.25 to 1.78) | 0.425 | Yes | 91.00 | No | No | No | NS | NS | Moderate |
| Chen 2019 | RAASi | RAASi use in cardiac surgery or not | 11 | 7018/27885 | OR | 1.06 (0.93 to 1.2) | 0.368 | Yes | 67.29 | Yes | NP | Yes | NS | NS | High |
CHADS VASc: congestive heart failure, hypertension, age >75 years, diabetes, stroke, vascular disease, age >65, female sex.
OSAS: obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; AF, atrial fibrillation; AVR, aortic valve replacement; BNP, brain natriuretic peptide; CE, class of evidence; CES, class of evidence sensitivity analysis; ES, effect size; ESB, excess significance bias; I2, heterogeneity; K, number of studies for each factor; LS, largest study with significant effect; n, number of cases; N, total number of cohorts per factor; NA, not assessable; NP, not pertinent, because the number of observed studies is less than the expected; NR, not reported; NT-proBNP, N-terminal pro B-natriuretic peptide; PI, prediction interval; RCT, randomised controlled trial; RR, risk ratio; SSE, small study effects.