Safety and efficacy of nonvitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants versus warfarin in diabetic patients with atrial fibrillation: A study ‐level meta‐analysis of phase III randomized trials

In this study‐level meta‐analysis, we included 4 randomized phase III trials comparing NOACs and warfarin in patients with nonvalvular AF; a total of 18 134 patients with DM and 40 454 without DM were overall considered. Incidence of the following outcome measures was evaluated during the follow‐up: stroke or systemic embolism, ischemic stroke, major bleeding, intracranial bleeding, and vascular death. Use of NOACs compared with warfarin reduced stroke/systemic embolism in diabetic (Risk Ratios [RR] 0.80, 95% CI 0.68‐0.93; P = .004) and nondiabetic patients (RR 0.83, 0.73‐0.93; P = .001) (P for interaction .72). No interaction between diabetes status and benefits of NOACs was found for the occurrence of ischemic stroke, major bleeding, or intracranial bleeding (P for interaction >.05 for each comparison). Reduction of vascular death rates with NOACs was significant in diabetic patients (4.97% vs 5.99% with warfarin; RR 0.83, 0.72‐0.96; P = .01), in whom absolute the reduction of this outcome measure was higher than in nondiabetics (1.02% vs 0.27%), although no interaction was present (P = .23). Results of this meta‐analysis support the safety and efficacy of NOACs compared with warfarin in diabetic patients with nonvalvular AF.
Source: Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: REVIEW ARTICLE Source Type: research