Background The Mobile Health (mHealth) Technology for Improved Screening and Optimized Integrated Care in atrial fibrillation (AF) (mAFA-II) cluster randomized trial assessed the efficacy of an integrated care approach in improving the prognosis of AF patients. In this study, we provide a reanalysis of the trial outcomes using the win ratio (WR) approach.

Methods The mAFA-II trial allocated patients to receive a mHealth-technology implemented Atrial Fibrillation Better Care (ABC) pathway (mAFA intervention) or usual care. The primary outcome was the composite of all-cause death, ischemic stroke or systemic thromboembolism, and rehospitalization. The efficacy of the mAFA intervention was analyzed according to the WR method using the unmatched pairs approach, with the components of the primary outcome analyzed hierarchically as follows: (1) all-cause death; (2) ischemic stroke or thromboembolism; (3) rehospitalization. Results were reported as WR and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In addition, we calculated win odds (WO) and 95% CI.

Results A total of 3,324 patients were enrolled in the mAFA-II trial and included in this analysis (1,646 allocated to mAFA intervention and 1,678 to usual care). Among 2,761,988 unmatched pairs comparisons, the number of wins was higher in the mAFA intervention group, with a WR: 2.78 (95% CI: 1.85–4.17). WO confirmed the effect of mAFA intervention, although with a lower magnitude (WO: 1.06; 95% Cl: 1.04–1.08).

Conclusions In this posthoc WR analysis of the mAFA-II trial, a mHealth-technology-implemented integrated care approach was effective in reducing the risk of the primary composite outcome of all-cause death, ischemic stroke or thromboembolism, and rehospitalization, even when prioritizing fatal events.