Anticoagulation therapy in non-valvular atrial fibrillation after intracerebral hemorrhage: A propensity score–matched study

Background The effect of antithrombotic therapy on patients with atrial fibrillation who sustained previous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains uncertain. Data regarding antithrombotic therapy use in these patients are limited. This study aims to compare the clinical and overall outcomes of antithrombotic therapy and usual care in patients with atrial fibrillation who sustained ICH. Methods We assembled consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation sustaining an ICH from our institution. Multivariable regression analysis and propensity-matched analysis were applied to assess associations of different antithrombotic therapies and outcomes. The primary outcome was mortality within the longest follow-up. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests of the time-to-event data were used to assess differences in survival. Results In total, 296 consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation who survived an ICH were included in this study. Our analysis demonstrated that antithrombotic therapy was associated with reduced mortality up to a 4-year duration of follow-up (OR, 0.49, 95 % CI 0.30–0.81). Similar results were obtained from the propensity-matched analysis (OR, 0.58, 95 % CI 0.34–0.98). Subgroup analysis showed that compared with usual care, direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) with or without antiplatelet was associated with a lower risk of long-term mortality (OR, 0.34, 95 % CI 0.17–0.69). In addition, our analysis observed a significant interaction between cardiac insufficiency and treatment effect (P = 0.04). Conclusions In patients with atrial fibrillation who have a history of ICH, administration of antithrombotic therapy, especially DOAC, was associated with lower mortality. Future randomized trials are warranted to test the positive net clinical benefit of DOAC therapy.