Anticoagulant Prescription in Patients With AF

In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who are at risk for thromboembolism, anticoagulation therapy with warfarin or the newer novel anticoagulants reduces morbidity and mortality. Because oral anticoagulant use carries a risk of bleeding, the drugs are not recommended in patients with AF who are at a particularly low risk for stroke. Specifically, previous AF guidelines recommend against the use of oral anticoagulation in patients younger than 60 years without heart disease or other known risk factors for thromboembolism, and more recently updated guidelines do not recommend the use of oral anticoagulation in patients with AF without any established risk factor for stroke. We sought to examine the prevalence of oral anticoagulant prescription that does not adhere to the guidelines in young and healthy patients with AF who were at the lowest risk for thromboembolism, as well as the clinical predictors of this practice.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Source Type: research