Abstract P021: Oral Anticoagulant Use and Risk of Incident Dementia in Persons With Atrial Fibrillation

Circulation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 137 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nemin Chen ◽  
Richard F MacLehose ◽  
Lin Y Chen ◽  
Faye L Norby ◽  
Lindsay G Bengtson ◽  
...  

Background: Current guidelines recommend oral anticoagulation for the prevention of stroke in most patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are associated with lower risk of ischemic stroke and intracranial bleeding than warfarin and, therefore, may reduce risk of dementia among patients with AF. Hypothesis: AF patients initiating DOACs for stroke prevention will have lower risk of dementia than patients initiating warfarin. Methods: We used data from two US healthcare claim databases, MarketScan (2007-2015) and Optum Clinformatics (2009-2015). Using validated algorithms, we identified patients with AF who initiated oral anticoagulation. Dementia was defined as having an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code of 290.xx, 294.xx, or 331.0. Comorbidities and use of other medications were defined based on inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy claims. We performed a series of head-to-head comparisons of different oral anticoagulants (warfarin, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban) in propensity score-matched cohorts. In each database, multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incident dementia for each comparison of propensity score-matched cohorts, adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, use of other medications, and markers of socioeconomic status (in the Optum database only). We meta-analyzed database-specific results using a random-effects model. Results: The analysis included 307,099 AF patients from the MarketScan database and 161,346 from the Optum database, of which 6,572 and 4,391 respectively had a diagnosis of incident dementia. Mean follow up ranged between 0.7 to 2.3 years and incident of diagnosed dementia between 7 to 14 cases per 1000 person-years across different oral anticoagulant initiator groups. Patients initiating DOACs had a lower risk of incident dementia than those initiating warfarin (dabigatran: HR 0.85, 95%CI 0.71, 1.01; rivaroxaban: HR 0.85, 95%CI 0.76, 0.94; apixaban: HR 0.80, 95%CI 0.65, 0.97). There were no differences in risk of incident dementia comparing DOAC user groups (dabigatran vs. rivaroxaban: HR 1.02, 95%CI 0.79, 1.32; dabigatran vs. apixaban: HR 0.92, 95%CI 0.63, 1.36; apixaban vs. rivaroxaban: HR 1.01, 95%CI 0.86, 1.19). Conclusions: Patients with AF initiating DOACs experienced lower rates of incident dementia than warfarin users. No obvious benefit was observed for any particular DOAC in relation to dementia rates.

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 107602961987024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine L. Baker ◽  
Amol D. Dhamane ◽  
Jigar Rajpura ◽  
Jack Mardekian ◽  
Oluwaseyi Dina ◽  
...  

We compared the risks of switching to another oral anticoagulant (OAC) and discontinuation of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) among elderly patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who were prescribed rivaroxaban or dabigatran versus apixaban. Patients (≥65 years of age) with NVAF prescribed DOACs (January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2017) were identified from the Humana research database and grouped into DOAC cohorts. Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate whether the risk for switching to another OAC or discontinuing index DOACs differed among cohorts. Of the study population (N = 38 250), 55.9% were prescribed apixaban (mean age: 78.6 years; 49.8% female), 37.3% rivaroxaban (mean age: 77.4 years; 46.7% female), and 6.8% dabigatran (mean age: 77.0 years; 44.0% female). Compared to patients prescribed apixaban, patients prescribed rivaroxaban (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.92-2.25; P < .001) or dabigatran (HR: 3.74; 95% CI, 3.35-4.18, P < .001) had a significantly higher risk of switching to another OAC during the follow-up; compared to patients prescribed apixaban, the risks of discontinuation were also higher for patients treated with rivaroxaban (HR: 1.10; 95% CI, 1.07-1.13, P < .001) or dabigatran (HR: 1.29; 95% CI, 1.23-1.35, P < .001).


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J J Komen ◽  
P Hjemdahl ◽  
A K Mantel - Teeuwisse ◽  
O H Klungel ◽  
B Wettermark ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Anticoagulation treatment reduces the risk of stroke but increases the risk of bleeding in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Antidepressants use is associated with increased risk for stroke and bleeds. Objective To assess the association between antidepressant use in AF patients with oral anticoagulants and bleeding and stroke risk. Methods All AF patients newly prescribed with an oral anticoagulant in the Stockholm Healthcare database (n=2.3 million inhabitants) from July 2011 until 2016 were included and followed for one year or shorter if they stopped claiming oral anticoagulant treatment or had an outcome of interest. Outcomes were severe bleeds and strokes, requiring acute hospital care. During follow-up, patients were considered exposed to antidepressant after claiming a prescription for the duration of the prescription. With a time-varying Cox regression, we assessed the association between antidepressant use and strokes and bleeds, adjusting for confounders (i.e., age, sex, comorbidities, comedication, and year of inclusion). In addition, we performed a propensity score matched analysis to test the robustness of our findings. Results Of the 30,595 patients included after claiming a prescription for a NOAC (n=13,506) or warfarin (n=17,089), 4 303 claimed a prescription for an antidepressant during follow-up. A total of 712 severe bleeds and 551 strokes were recorded in the cohort. Concomitant oral anticoagulant and antidepressant use was associated with increased rates of severe bleeds (4.7 vs 2.7 per 100 person-years) compared to oral anticoagulant treatment without antidepressant use (aHR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.12–1.80), but not significantly associated with increased stroke rates (3.5 vs 2.1 per 100 person-years, aHR 1.23, 95% CI: 0.93–1.62). No significant differences were observed between different oral anticoagulant classes (i.e., warfarin or NOAC) or different antidepressant classes (i.e., SSRI, TCA, or other antidepressant). Additional propensity-score matched analyses yielded similar results but showed a significantly increased risk for stroke (HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.08–2.02). Incidence rates of strokes and bleeds Conclusion Concomitant use of an oral anticoagulant and an antidepressant, irrespective of type, is associated with an increased bleeding risk. Increased awareness and a critical consideration for the need of an antidepressant is recommended in this population. Acknowledgement/Funding Swedish Heart Lung Foundation


Heart ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. heartjnl-2020-317923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Hanon ◽  
Jean-Sébastien Vidal ◽  
George Pisica-Donose ◽  
Galdric Orvoën ◽  
Jean-Philippe David ◽  
...  

ObjectiveDirect oral anticoagulants have been evaluated in the general population, but proper evidence for their safe use in the geriatric population is still missing. We compared the bleeding risk of a direct oral anticoagulant (rivaroxaban) and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) among French geriatric patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) aged ≥80 years.MethodsWe performed a sequential observational prospective cohort study, using data from 33 geriatric centres. The sample comprised 908 patients newly initiated on VKAs between September 2011 and September 2014 and 995 patients newly initiated on rivaroxaban between September 2014 and September 2017. Patients were followed up for up to 12 months. One-year risks of major, intracerebral, gastrointestinal bleedings, ischaemic stroke and all-cause mortality were compared between rivaroxaban-treated and VKA-treated patients with propensity score matching and Cox models.ResultsMajor bleeding risk was significantly lower in rivaroxaban-treated patients (7.4/100 patient-years) compared with VKA-treated patients (14.6/100 patient-years) after multivariate adjustment (HR 0.66; 95% CI 0.43 to 0.99) and in the propensity score–matched sample (HR 0.53; 95% CI 0.33 to 0.85). Intracerebral bleeding occurred less frequently in rivaroxaban-treated patients (1.3/100 patient-years) than in VKA-treated patients (4.0/100 patient-years), adjusted HR 0.59 (95% CI 0.24 to 1.44) and in the propensity score–matched sample HR 0.26 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.80). Major lower bleeding risk was largely driven by lower risk of intracerebral bleeding.ConclusionsOur study findings indicate that bleeding risk, largely driven by lower risk of intracerebral bleeding, is lower with rivaroxaban than with VKA in stroke prevention in patients ≥80 years old with non-valvular AF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Dominguez Rodriguez ◽  
S Raposeiras Roubin ◽  
D Alonso Rodriguez ◽  
S J Camacho Freire ◽  
E Abuassi ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Embolic prevention with oral anticoagulation is the cornerstone for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, data about the efficacy and safety of oral anticoagulation in nonagenarian patients are limited. We aimed to analyze the impact of oral anticoagulation in mortality, embolic and hemorrhagic events, in patients ≥90 years with non-valvular AF. Methods We used data from a multicentric registry of 1,750 consecutive nonagenarian patients diagnosed of AF between 2013 and 2018. A propensity-matched analysis was performed to match the baseline characteristics of patients treated or not with oral anticoagulants, and for those treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) vs direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). The impact of oral anticoagulation in the embolic and hemorrhagic risk was assessed by a competitive risk analysis, using a Fine and Gray regression model, with death being the competitive event. For embolic risk, we have considered a stroke, pulmonary or peripheral embolism. For bleeding risk, we have considered any bleeding requiring hospital admission. Results The mean of CHA2DS2-VASC and HASBLED scores was 4.5±1.3 and 2.8±1.0 points, respectively. Most of patients were anticoagulated (70.1%; n=1,256). DOACs were used in 709 patients, and VKAs in 517 patients. During a median follow-up of 25.2 months (IQR 12.2–44.3 months), 988 patients died (56.5%), 180 presented embolic events (10.3%), 186 had bleeding events (10.6%), and 29 had intracranial hemorrhage (ICH, 1.7%). After propensity-score matching, anticoagulation (versus non anticoagulation) was associated with lower mortality rate (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.60–0.89; p=0.002), less mortality and embolic events (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.64–0.92; p=0.005), but more bleeding events (HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.25–3.35; p=0.004). In comparison with VKAs, DOACs showed similar risk of mortality and embolic events (HR 1.14, 95% CI 0.88–1.47; p=0.337), and similar risk of bleeding events (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.43–1.28; p=0.287), although a trend to lower risk of ICH was found (HR 0.17, 95% CI 0.02–1.39; p=0.097). Conclusions Among nonagenarian patients with AF, oral anticoagulation was associated with lower all-cause mortality. Although survival free of embolic events was significantly higher in patients with anticoagulation, the risk of major bleeding was twice than in non-anticoagulated patients. There was not differences between VKAs and DOACs in terms of embolic events and total major bleeding. However, compared with VKAs, DOACs were showed a trend to lower risk of ICH.


Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
So-Ryoung Lee ◽  
Eue-Keun Choi ◽  
Sang-Hyun Park ◽  
Jin-Hyung Jung ◽  
Kyung-Do Han ◽  
...  

Background and Purpose: Atrial fibrillation is a risk factor for dementia, and oral anticoagulant use is associated with a decreased risk of dementia in patients with atrial fibrillation. We aimed to investigate whether the risk of dementia would be different between patients treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) compared with those with warfarin. Methods: Using the Korean nationwide claims database from January 2014 to December 2017, we identified oral anticoagulant–naive nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients aged ≥40 years. For the comparisons, warfarin and DOAC groups were balanced using the inverse probability of treatment weighting method. The primary outcome was incident dementia. Results: Among 72 846 of total study patients, 25 948 were treated with warfarin, and 46 898 were treated with DOAC (17 193 with rivaroxaban, 9882 with dabigatran, 11 992 with apixaban, and 7831 with edoxaban). During mean 1.3±1.1 years of follow-up, crude incidence of dementia was 4.87 per 100 person-years (1.20 per 100 person-years for vascular dementia and 3.30 per 100 person-years for Alzheimer dementia). Compared with warfarin, DOAC showed a comparable risks of dementia, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer dementia. In subgroup analyses, DOAC was associated with a lower risk of dementia than warfarin, particularly in patients aged 65 to 74 years (hazard ratio, 0.815 [95% CI, 0.709–0.936]) and in patients with prior stroke (hazard ratio, 0.891 [95% CI, 0.820–0.968]). When comparing individual DOACs with warfarin, edoxaban was associated with a lower risk of dementia (hazard ratio, 0.830 [95% CI, 0.740–0.931]). Conclusions: In this large Asian population with atrial fibrillation, DOAC showed a comparable risk of dementia with warfarin overall. DOACs appeared more beneficial than warfarin, in those aged 65 to 74 years or with a history of stroke. For specific DOACs, only edoxaban was associated with a lower risk of dementia than warfarin.


Blood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 5061-5061
Author(s):  
Martin Ellis ◽  
Sergienko Ruslan ◽  
Hammerman Ariel ◽  
Sari Greenberg-Dotan ◽  
Erez Battat ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are at least as effective as vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). DOACs are associated with less intracranial hemorrhage and are easier to administer and therfore have become standard of care for stroke prevention in NVAF patients. Nevertheless, many eligible patients still receive no anticoagulation. The effect on overall mortality in routine practice of DOAC therapy compared to no anticoagulation in NVAF patients is unknown. Methods We identified all newly diagnosed, anticoagulant naive NVAF patients eligible for DOAC therapy from 2011 to 2016 in Clalit Health Services, the largest HMO in Israel. We created a matched cohort, using 1:1 propensity score matching of DOAC -treated versus non-anticoagulant treated NVAF patients. The primary outcome was overall mortality rate in the two cohorts. Secondary outcomes were rates of stroke, major cardiac and bleeding events. Results 28,195 newly diagnosed CHADS2 ≥2 NVAF patients were identified. Of these 8 298 received a DOAC and 10 603 received no anticaogulation. The remainder received a VKA and were not included in this study. Patients recieving DOAC therapy were younger (77.4 vs 78.0 years), had a higher socioeconomic status (5.6 vs. 5.3), had a female predominance (53.7% vs 52.0%), had a higher BMI (29.6 vs 28.3) and had a greater prevalance of accompanying cardiovascular morbidities namely congestive heart failure (CHF) (29% vs 27%) and stroke (33% vs 30%) (P<0.001 for all variables) . 5,657 patients who received DOAC therapy were matched with 5,657 patients not receiving an anticoagulant using propensity score matching. DOAC therapy was associated with significantly lower risk for death (hazard ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.60-0.71, P<0.001). Rates of stroke and major cardiac were significantly lower in the DOAC-treated than in the non-anticoagulated patients. DOAC therapy was associated with a significant survival benefit across all patient subgroups. Conclusions In this cohort of newly diagnosed NVAF patients treated in routine clinical practice, DOAC therapy was associated with a lower risk for death compared to no oral anticoagulation. Our findings provide further evidence for the importance of DOAC therapy in NVAF patients. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Angel YS Wong ◽  
Laurie Tomlinson ◽  
Jeremy P Brown ◽  
William Elson ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesWe investigated the role of routinely prescribed oral anticoagulants (OACs) in COVID-19 outcomes, comparing current OAC use versus non-use in Study 1; and warfarin versus direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in Study 2.DesignTwo cohort studies, on behalf of NHS England.SettingPrimary care data and pseudonymously-linked SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing data, hospital admissions, and death records from England.ParticipantsStudy 1: 70,464 people with atrial fibrillation (AF) and CHA□DS□-VASc score of 2. Study 2: 372,746 people with non-valvular AF.Main outcome measuresTime to test for SARS-CoV-2, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 related hospital admission, COVID-19 deaths or non-COVID-19 deaths in Cox regression.ResultsIn Study 1, we included 52,416 current OAC users and 18,048 non-users. We observed no difference in risk of being tested for SARS-CoV-2 associated with current use (adjusted HR, 1.01, 95%CI, 0.96 to 1.05) versus non-use. We observed a lower risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (adjusted HR, 0.73, 95%CI, 0.60 to 0.90), and COVID-19 deaths (adjusted HR, 0.69, 95%CI, 0.49 to 0.97) associated with current use versus non-use. In Study 2, we included 92,339 warfarin users and 280,407 DOAC users. We observed a lower risk of COVID-19 deaths (adjusted HR, 0.79, 95%CI, 0.76 to 0.83) associated with warfarin versus DOACs. Similar associations were found for all other outcomes.ConclusionsAmong people with AF and a CHA□DS□-VASc score of 2, those receiving OACs had a lower risk of receiving a positive COVID-19 test and severe COVID-19 outcomes than non-users; this might be explained by a causal effect of OACs in preventing severe COVID-19 outcomes or more cautious behaviours leading to reduced infection risk. There was no evidence of a higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes associated with warfarin versus DOACs in people with non-valvular AF regardless of CHA□DS□-VASc score.Key pointsWhat is already known on this topicCurrent studies suggest that prophylactic or therapeutic anticoagulant use, particularly low molecular weight heparin, lower the risk of pulmonary embolism and mortality during hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19.Reduced vitamin K status has been reported to be correlated with severity of COVID-19. This could mean that warfarin, as a vitamin K antagonist, is associated with more severe COVID-19 disease than non-vitamin K anticoagulants.What this study addsIn 70,464 people with atrial fibrillation, at the threshold of being treated with an OAC based on risk of stroke, we observed a lower risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 related deaths associated with routinely prescribed OACs, relative to non-use.This might be explained by OACs preventing severe COVID-19 outcomes, or more cautious behaviours and environmental factors reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in those taking OACs.In 372,746 people with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, there was no evidence of a higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes associated with warfarin compared with DOACs.


Heart ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (19) ◽  
pp. 1487-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronen Arbel ◽  
Ruslan Sergienko ◽  
Ariel Hammerman ◽  
Sari Dotan-Greenberg ◽  
Erez Batat ◽  
...  

ObjectiveAlthough direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) are the recommended antithrombotic therapy for patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), anticoagulation in patients with NVAF is still inadequate. The effect of withholding DOAC therapy on patient survival is unknown. Therefore, our objective was to compare all-cause mortality rates between DOAC-treated patients with NVAF and similar patients receiving no anticoagulation.MethodsWe performed a retrospective cohort study analysing Clalit Health Services’ extensive electronic database, regarding all newly diagnosed, anticoagulant-naïve patients with NVAF who were eligible for DOAC therapy from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2016. Patients who received DOAC therapy were matched by propensity scoring to patients receiving no anticoagulation. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Final patient follow-up date was 15 May 2017.Results18 901 eligible patients were identified. 8298 received treatment with a DOAC and 10 603 received no anticoagulation therapy. Of those, 5657 patients who received DOAC therapy were matched with 5657 patients who did not receive any anticoagulant. Death occurred in 715 patients in the DOAC-treated group (7.6% per year) and in 2075 patients in the non-anticoagulated patient group (11.1% per year). DOAC therapy was associated with significantly lower risk for all-cause mortality (HR=0.69, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.75, p<0.001). The benefit of DOAC therapy was demonstrated across all subgroups analysed.ConclusionsIn this cohort of newly diagnosed patients with NVAF, DOAC therapy was associated with a significantly lower risk of death compared with no oral anticoagulation. Our findings provide further evidence for the importance of providing DOAC anticoagulation in patients with NVAF.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Lung Cheung ◽  
Chor-Wing Sing ◽  
Wallis C. Y. Lau ◽  
Gloria H. Y. Li ◽  
Gregory Y. H. Lip ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus is a common comorbidity of atrial fibrillation (AF), which can complicate the management of AF. The pharmacology of oral anticoagulants (OACs) have been implicated in pathogenesis of diabetes, but the relationship between different OACs and risk of diabetes remains unexamined. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of diabetes with use of different OACs in AF patients. Methods Population-based retrospective cohort study using an electronic healthcare database managed by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. Patients newly diagnosed with AF from 2014 through 2018 and prescribed OACs were included and followed till December 31, 2019. Inverse probability of treatment weighting based on the propensity score (PS) is used to address potential bias due to nonrandomized allocation of treatment. The risks ofdiabetes were compared between different new OAC users using propensity score-weighted cumulative incidence differences (CID). Results There were 13,688 new users of OACs (warfarin: n = 3454; apixaban: n = 3335; dabigatran: n = 4210; rivaroxaban: n = 2689). The mean age was 75.0 (SD, 11.2), and 6,550 (47.9%) were women. After a median follow-up of 0.93 years (interquartile range, 0.21–1.92 years), 698 incident diabetes cases were observed. In Cox-regression analysis, dabigatran use was significantly associated with reduced risk of diabetes when compared with warfarin use [HR 0.69 (95% CI 0.56–0.86; P < 0.001)], with statistically insignificant associations observed for use of apixaban and rivaroxaban. The corresponding adjusted CIDs at 2 years after treatment with apixaban, dabigatran, and rivaroxaban users when compared with warfarin were − 2.06% (95% CI − 4.08 to 0.16%); − 3.06% (95% CI − 4.79 to − 1.15%); and − 1.8% (− 3.62 to 0.23%). In head-to-head comparisons between women DOAC users, dabigatran was also associated with a lower risk of diabetes when compared with apixaban and rivaroxaban. Conclusions Among adults with AF receiving OACs, the use of dabigatran had the lowest risk of diabetes when compared with warfarin use.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G Denas ◽  
G Costa ◽  
E Ferroni ◽  
N Gennaro ◽  
U Fedeli ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Anticoagulation therapy is central for the management of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Persistence with oral anticoagulation is essential to prevent thromboembolic complications. Purpose To assess persistence levels of DOACs and look for possible predictors of treatment discontinuity in NVAF patients. Methods We performed a population-based retrospective cohort study in the Veneto Region (north-eastern Italy, about 5 million inhabitants) using the regional health system databases. Naïve patients initiating direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for stroke prevention in NVAF from July 2013 to September 2017 were included in the study. Patients were identified using Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes, excluding other indications for anticoagulation therapy using ICD-9CM codes. Treatment persistence was defined as the time from initiation to discontinuation of the therapy. Baseline characteristics and comorbidities associated to the persistence of therapy with DOACs were explored by means of Kaplan-Meier curves and assessed through Cox regression. Results Overall, 17920 patients initiated anticoagulation with DOACs in the study period. Most patients were older than 74 years old, while gender was almost equally represented. Comorbidities included hypertension (72%), diabetes mellitus (17%), congestive heart failure (9%), previous stroke/TIA (20%), and prior myocardial infarction (2%). After one year, the persistence to anticoagulation treatment was 82.7%, while the persistence to DOAC treatment was 72.9% with about 10% of the discontinuations being due to switch to VKAs. On multivariate analysis, factors negatively affecting persistence were female gender, younger age (<65 years), renal disease and history of bleeding. Conversely, persistence was better in patients with hypertension, previous cerebral ischemic events, and previous acute myocardial infarction. Persistence to DOAC therapy Conclusion This real-world data show that within 12 months, one out of four anticoagulation-naïve patients stop DOACs, while one out of five patients stop anticoagulation. Efforts should be made to correct modifiable predictors and intensify patient education.


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