Takeaway
- This study suggests that as many as 64% of dementia patients in England do not receive oral anticoagulant (OAC) treatment in the year following atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis, despite having risk factors suggestive of greater thromboembolic risk.
- Bleeding risk factors, including previous major bleeds and a history of falls, are associated with lower OAC prescribing.
Why this matters
- Dementia is a common comorbidity in patients with AF, and guidelines recommend OAC therapy for patients with AF and dementia unless concordance cannot be ensured by the caregiver.
- Findings warrant further studies to establish possible associations between bleeding risk factors and other potential drivers of OAC prescribing.
Study design
- This retrospective study included 1090 dementia patients newly diagnosed with AF (aged, ≥65 years) between 2013 and 2017 using data from UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) databases.
- Funding: Bristol-Myers Squibb-Pfizer Global Alliance.
Key results
- Of 1090 patients, 397 (36.4%) were prescribed an OAC and 693 (63.6%) were not prescribed an OAC in the year following their diagnosis.
- The proportion of patients who experienced thromboembolic events was high, with 97% of patients having a CHA2DS2-VASc score of >2.
- The proportions of patients with stroke risk factors and the mean CHA2DS2-VASc score did not differ between OAC treated and untreated groups.
- The presence of bleeding risk factors was high with only 28 (2.6%) patients not having a previous fall or a HAS-BLED bleeding risk factor.
- Older patients (mean age, 85.72 years) were less likely to be prescribed an OAC and females were less likely to be treated than males (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98 and OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.50-0.83).
- Factors associated with a lower OAC prescription included:
- history of falls (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.58-0.98);
- previous major bleed (OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.43-0.73); and
- care home residence (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.30-0.74).
Limitations
- The identification of patient characteristics was dependent on a coded record.
- CPRD data source did not contain prescriptions issued in secondary or tertiary care.
This clinical summary first appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.