Oral anticoagulant persistence in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: A cohort study using primary care data in Germany.

ABSTRACT: This study examined characteristics and treatment persistence among patients prescribed oral anticoagulants (OACs) for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). We identified 15,244 patients (51.8% male, 72.7% aged ≥70) with NVAF and no prior OAC therapy who were prescribed apixaban (n = 1,303), rivaroxaban (n = 5,742), dabigatran (n = 1,622) or vitamin-K antagonists (VKAs, n = 6,577) between 1-Dec-2012 and 31-Oct-2014 in German primary care (IMS® Disease Analyzer). We compared OAC persistence using Cox regression over patients' entire follow-up and using a data-driven time-partitioned approach (before/after 100 days) to handle non-proportional hazards. History of stroke risk factors (stroke/transient ischaemic attack [TIA] 15.2%; thromboembolism 14.1%; hypertension 84.

SUBMITTER: Collings SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5634552 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature