Novel oral anticoagulants in primary care in patients with atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional comparison before and after their introduction

Table 1 Patient characteristics comparing 2011 and 2014 independently

			GROUP A (2011)	GROUP B (2014)	p-value
patients (n)	total		804	755
	gender (%)	male	374 (46.5%)	388 (51.4%)	.06^a
		female	429 (53.4%)	367 (48.6%)	.06^a
		undetermined	1 (0.1%)	0
	age (years)	Median (IQR)	79 (71–86)	77 (70–83)	<.01^b
		Min – Max	19–99	18–103
		< 65	92 (11.4%)	118 (15.6%)
		65–74	179 (22.3%)	170 (22.5%)
		≥75	533 (66.3%)	467 (61.9%)
	additional diagnosis	at least 1 additional	750 (93.3%)	724 (95.9%)	.02^a
		renal insufficiency	54 (6.7%)	55 (7.3%)	.66^a
		coagulopathy	13 (1.6%)	17 (2.3%)	.36^a
		intracranial bleeding	8 (1.0%)	6 (0.8%)	.68^a
		epistaxis	7 (0.9%)	10 (1.3%)	.39^a
		gastrointestinal bleeding	15 (1.9%)	12 (1.6%)	.68^a
		stroke	43 (5.3%)	34 (4.5%)	.44^a
	CHA₂DS₂-VASC:	0	48 (6.0%)	56 (7.4%)	.34^a
		1	54 (6.7%)	59 (7.8%)
		≥2	702 (87.3%)	640 (84.8%)
	prescriptions (per year)	patients with at least 1 prescription	684 (85.1%)	677 (89.7%)	<.01^a
		Md (IQR)	12 (5–25)	15 (6–24)	.31^b
		Min - Max	1–123	1–123	.31^b
		all patients			.02^b
		Md (IQR)	10 (2–22.8)	13 (3–23)
		Min - Max	0–123	0–123
	OAC	VKA or NOAC	186 (23.1%)	323 (42.8%)	<.01^a
		VKA	182 (22.6%)	188 (24.9%)	.29^a
		Rivaroxaban	0 (0.0%)	121 (16.0%)	<.01^a
		Dabigatran	5 (0.6%)	14 (1.9%)	.03^a
		Apixaban	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.3%)	<.01^c
	ASA (without additional OAC)^d		123 (15.3%)	62 (8.2%)	<.01^a
	consultation of cardiologist		125 (15.5%)	165 (21.9%)	<.01^a

CONTENT-Patients with diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, which were registered only once, either in 2011 (group A) or in 2014 (group B). OAC oral anticoagulation, VKA vitamin-k antagonists, NOAC novel oral anticoagulation, ASA Acetylsalicylic acid
^aChi²-test, ^bMann-Whitney-U-test, ^cFisher’s exact test
^dIndication for ASA (100 mg), such as peripheral vascular disease or post-stroke or post-myocardial infarction or else and either as primary or secondary prophylaxis, could not clearly be stated

ISSN: 2731-4553