Trends in the prescription of novel oral anticoagulants in UK primary care.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are alternatives to vitamin-K antagonists (VKAs) for the prevention of thromboembolism. It is unclear how NOACs have been adopted in the UK since first introduced in 2008. The present study was conducted to describe the trends in the prescription of NOACs in the UK, including dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban.

Methods

Using the UK's Clinical Practice Research Datalink, the rates of new use of NOACs and VKAs from 2009 to 2015 were calculated using Poisson regression. Patient characteristics associated with NOAC initiation were identified using multivariate logistic regression.

Results

The overall rate of oral anticoagulant initiation increased by 58% over the study period [rate ratio (RR) 1.58; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23

SUBMITTER: Loo SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5555878 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature