Antithrombotic Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation: CHEST Guideline and Expert Panel Report.

The risk of stroke is heterogeneous across different groups of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), being dependent on the presence of various stroke risk factors. We provide recommendations for antithrombotic treatment based on net clinical benefit for patients with AF at varying levels of stroke risk and in a number of common clinical scenarios. Systematic literature reviews were conducted to identify relevant articles published from the last formal search perfomed for the Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (9th Edition). The overall quality of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. Graded recommendations and ungraded consensus-based statements were drafted, voted on, and revised until consensus was reached. For patients with AF without valvular heart disease, including those with paroxysmal AF, who are at low risk of stroke (eg, CHA2DS2-VASc [congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 (doubled), diabetes, stroke (doubled)-vascular disease, age 65-74 and sex category (female)] score of 0 in males or 1 in females), we suggest no antithrombotic therapy. The next step is to consider stroke prevention (ie, oral anticoagulation therapy) for patients with 1 or more non-sex CHA2DS2-VASc stroke risk factors. For patients with a single non-sex CHA2DS2-VASc stroke risk factor, we suggest oral anticoagulation rather than no therapy, aspirin, or combination therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel; and for those at high risk of stroke (eg, CHA2DS2-VASc ≥ 2 in males or ≥ 3 in females), we recommend oral anticoagulation rather than no therapy, aspirin, or combination therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel. Where we recommend or suggest in favor of oral anticoagulation, we suggest using a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant drug rather than adjusted-dose vitamin K antagonist therapy. With the latter, it is important to aim for good quality anticoagulation control with a time in therapeutic range > 70%. Attention to modifiable bleeding risk factors (eg, uncontrolled BP, labile international normalized ratios, concomitant use of aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs in an anticoagulated patient, alcohol excess) should be made at each patient contact, and HAS-BLED (hypertension, abnormal renal/liver function [1 point each], stroke, bleeding history or predisposition, labile international normalized ratio, elderly (0.65), drugs/alcohol concomitantly [1 point each]) score used to assess the risk of bleeding where high risk patients (≥ 3) should be reviewed and followed up more frequently. Oral anticoagulation is the optimal choice of antithrombotic therapy for patients with AF with ≥1 non-sex CHA2DS2-VASc stroke risk factor(s).

Lip GYH ，Banerjee A ，Boriani G ，Chiang CE ，Fargo R ，Freedman B ，Lane DA ，Ruff CT ，Turakhia M ，Werring D ，Patel S ，Moores L ... -  《-》

Antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation: Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines.

You JJ ，Singer DE ，Howard PA ，Lane DA ，Eckman MH ，Fang MC ，Hylek EM ，Schulman S ，Go AS ，Hughes M ，Spencer FA ，Manning WJ ，Halperin JL ，Lip GYH ... -  《-》

The HAS-BLED score has better prediction accuracy for major bleeding than CHADS2 or CHA2DS2-VASc scores in anticoagulated patients with atrial fibrillation.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a specific bleeding risk score, HAS-BLED (hypertension, abnormal renal/liver function, stroke, bleeding history or predisposition, labile international normalized ratio, elderly, drugs/alcohol concomitantly), was better at predicting major bleeding compared with CHADS2 (congestive heart failure, hypertension, 75 years of age or older, diabetes mellitus, and previous stroke or transient ischemic attack) and CHA2DS2-VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, 75 years of age and older, diabetes mellitus, previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, 65 to 74 years of age, female) in anticoagulated atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. The CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores are well-validated stroke risk prediction scores for AF, but are also associated with increased bleeding and mortality. We recruited 1,370 consecutive AF patients (49% male; median age, 76 years) receiving oral anticoagulation therapy from our outpatient anticoagulation clinic, all of whom were receiving acenocoumarol and had an international normalized ratio between 2.0 and 3.0 during the preceding 6 months. During follow-up, major bleeding events were identified by the 2005 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria. Model performance was evaluated by calculating the C-statistic, and the improvement in predictive accuracy was evaluated by calculating the net reclassification improvement and integrated discrimination improvement. After a median follow-up of 996 (range, 802 to 1,254) days, 114 patients (3.0%/year) presented with a major bleeding event; 31 of these events were intracranial hemorrhages (0.8%/year). Based on the C-statistic, HAS-BLED had a model performance superior to that of both CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc (both p < 0.001). Both net reclassification improvement and integrated discrimination improvement analyses also show that HAS-BLED was more accurately associated with major bleeding compared with CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores. In anticoagulated AF patients, a validated specific bleeding risk score, HAS-BLED, should be used for assessing major bleeding. The practice of using CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc as a measure of high bleeding risk should be discouraged, given its inferior predictive performance compared with the HAS-BLED score.

Roldán V ，Marín F ，Manzano-Fernández S ，Gallego P ，Vílchez JA ，Valdés M ，Vicente V ，Lip GY ... -  《-》

Evaluation of Adherence to Guideline-Directed Antithrombotic Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation at Hospital Discharge.

Dupree L ，DeLosSantos M ，Smotherman C 《-》

'Real-world' antithrombotic treatment in atrial fibrillation: The EORP-AF pilot survey.

Current guidelines strongly recommend that oral anticoagulation should be offered to patients with atrial fibrillation and ≥1 stroke risk factors. The guidelines also recommend that oral anticoagulation still should be used in the presence of stroke risk factors irrespective of rate or rhythm control. In an analysis from the dataset of the EURObservational Research Programme on Atrial Fibrillation Pilot Survey (n = 3119), we examined antithrombotic therapy prescribing, with particular focus on the risk factors determining oral anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy use. When oral anticoagulation was used among admitted patients in whom no pharmacologic cardioversion, electrical cardioversion, or catheter ablation was performed or planned, vitamin K antagonist therapy was prescribed in the majority (72.2%), whereas novel oral anticoagulants were used in the minority (7.7%). There was no significant difference in bleeding risk factors among the patients treated with the different types of antithrombotic therapies, except for those with chronic kidney disease, in whom oral anticoagulation was less commonly used (P = .0318). Antiplatelet therapy was more commonly used in patients with a high Hypertension, Abnormal renal/liver function, Stroke, Bleeding history or predisposition, Labile international normalized ratio, Elderly (>65 years), Drugs/alcohol concomitantly score (≥2) (P < .0001). More oral anticoagulation use was associated with female gender (P = .0245). Less novel oral anticoagulant use was associated with valvular heart disease (P < .0001), chronic heart failure (P = .0010), coronary artery disease (P < .0001), and peripheral artery disease (P = .0092). Coronary artery disease was the strongest reason for combination therapy with oral anticoagulation plus antiplatelet drug (odds ratio, 8.54; P < .0001). When the Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age ≥75 [Doubled], Diabetes, Stroke [Doubled]-Vascular disease, Age 65-74, and Sex category [female] score was used, 95.6% of patients with a score ≥1 received antithrombotic therapy, with 80.5% of patients with a score ≥1 receiving oral anticoagulation. Of note, 83.7% of those with a score ≥2 received antithrombotic therapy. Of the latter, 70.9% of those with a score ≥2 received oral anticoagulation, vitamin K antagonists were used in 64.1%, and novel oral anticoagulants were used in 6.9%. The EURObservational Research Programme on Atrial Fibrillation Pilot Survey provides contemporary data on oral anticoagulation prescribing by European cardiologists for atrial fibrillation. Although the uptake of oral anticoagulation (mostly vitamin K antagonist therapy) has improved since the Euro Heart Survey a decade ago, antiplatelet therapy is still commonly prescribed, with or without oral anticoagulation, whereas elderly patients are commonly undertreated with oral anticoagulation.

Lip GY ，Laroche C ，Dan GA ，Santini M ，Kalarus Z ，Rasmussen LH ，Ioachim PM ，Tica O ，Boriani G ，Cimaglia P ，Diemberger I ，Hellum CF ，Mortensen B ，Maggioni AP ... -  《-》