DUGi

Effectiveness, safety and costs of thromboembolic prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: phase I ESC-FA protocol study and baseline characteristics of a cohort from a primary care electronic database

http://dugi.udg.edu/item/http:@@@@hdl.handle.net@@2072@@261956

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation is the most commonarrhythmia. Its management aims to reduce symptomsand to prevent complications through rate and rhythmcontrol, management of concomitant cardiac diseasesand prevention of related complications, mainly stroke.The main objective of Effectiveness, Safety and Costsin Atrial Fibrillation (ESC-FA) study is to analyse thedrugs used for the management of the disease in realuseconditions, particularly the antithrombotic agentsfor stroke prevention. The aim of this work is topresent the study protocol of phase I of the ESC-FAstudy and the baseline characteristics of newlydiagnosed patients with atrial fibrillation in Catalonia,Spain.Participants: The data source is System for theImprovement of Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP)database. The population included are all patients withnon-valvular atrial fibrillation diagnosis registered in theelectronic health records during 2007–2012.Findings to date: A total of 22 585 patients withnon-valvular atrial fibrillation were included in thebaseline description. Their mean age was 72.8 yearsand 51.6% were men. The most commonly prescribedantithrombotics were vitamin K antagonists (40.1% ofpatients) and platelet aggregation inhibitors (32.9%);25.3% had not been prescribed antithrombotictreatment. Age, gender, comorbidities and comedicationat baseline were similar to those reportedfor previous studies.Future plans: The next phase in the ESC-FA studywill involve assessing the effectiveness and safety ofantithrombotic treatments, analysing stroke events andbleeding episodes’ rates in our patients (rest of phaseI), describing the current management of the diseaseand its costs in our setting, and assessing how theintroduction of new oral anticoagulants changes thestroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation

BMJ Publishing Group