Safety and Effectiveness of Long-term Anticoagulation for Atrial Fibrillation Among Nonagenarians: A Real-world Analysis

The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) increases with age, reaching 10% among those over 80 years old (1). Long-term anticoagulation (AC) is effective in reducing strokes among patients with AF at increased risk of thromboembolic events (2). The safety and effectiveness of AC among nonagenarians are poorly understood, since these patients were underrepresented in the pivotal trials of AC.1 While age is an independent risk factor for stroke in patients with AF, the net clinical benefit of AC may be mitigated by an increased risk of bleeding (3,4).

Source: The American Journal of Cardiology - November 11, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Ahmed Elkaryoni, Kirolos Barssoum, Amr F. Barakat, Islam Y. Elgendy, Mahmoud Elsayed, Adel Muhanna, Anne Arnason, Islam Shatla, Amir Darki, Alan P. Wimmer Source Type: research