Drug Use And Clinical Outcomes In Patients Treated With Oral Anticoagulant Drugs In The Period 2014-2015: Evidence From Administrative Databases Of The Romagna Local Health Authority

Background. The present study aimed at describing (i) the characteristics of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients newly treated with oral anticoagulants (vitamin K antagonists [VKA] or new oral anticoagulants [NOAC]), and (ii) their persistence to treatment assigned, clinical outcomes (bleeding and thromboembolic events) and mortality.Methods. This study was conducted using administrative databases of an Italian Local Health Unit. All adult patients (aged >= 18 years) with NVAF and naive to VKA (warfarin) or NOAC (rivaroxaban, apixaban, dabigatran) were included between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015. Propensity score matching was performed to check for confounding effects. Included patients were characterized for comorbidities, CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc and HAS-BLED score, antiplatelet drug use and followed up for at least 12 months to assess persistence to treatment and incidence of clinical outcomes.Results. A total of 970 NVAF patients newly treated with oral anticoagulants were included; 595 (61.3%) received VKA and 375 (38.7%) NOAC. VKA naive patients had a lower low and intermediate score for HAS-BLED and CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc compared to NOAC patients. Overall, 80.6% of naive NAO patients and 73.4% of naive AVK patients were persistent to treatment. Incidence of bleeding events was slightly higher in VKA patients (3.13/100 persons year) compared to NOAC patients (2.73/100 persons years), as well as incidence of thromboembolic events (3.48/100 persons year and 2.18/100 persons year, respectively). After propensity score matching no differences were observed.Conclusions. The majority of NVAF patients newly treated with oral anticoagulants received VKA-based therapy. Incidence of bleeding and thromboembolic events was slightly higher in VKA patients compared to NOAC patients.