3.1 Baseline clinical and echocardiographic characteristics
All baseline parameters are summarized in Table 1. A total of 150 patients were included in our study, with 50 patients in each group. 16 (32%) were female in control group with an average age of 59.34±7.05 years, 17 (34%) were female in paroxysmal AF group with an average age of 57.78±8.36 years and 15 (30%) were female in persistent AF group with an average age of 60.94±6.70 years. In our study, EAT thickness differed significantly among control group (3.51±0.29mm), paroxysmal AF group (5.11±0.84mm) and persistent AF group (6.26±0.80mm). And compared with control group, LAD in paroxysmal AF group and persistent AF group increased in turn. However, there was no significant difference in LVEF among three groups. The baseline clinical characteristics among three groups also had no statistical difference, such as age, gender, BMI, BSA and so on.