Aortic Stenosis and Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: A Nationwide Cohort Study

• Published in: Journal of the American Heart Association Vol. 12; no. 9; p. e029337
• Main Authors: Teppo, Konsta, Airaksinen, K E Juhani, Biancari, Fausto, Jaakkola, Jussi, Halminen, Olli, Linna, Miika, Haukka, Jari, Putaala, Jukka, Mustonen, Pirjo, Kinnunen, Janne, Luojus, Alex, Hartikainen, Juha, Aro, Aapo L, Lehto, Mika
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley and Sons Inc 02-05-2023; Wiley
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Aged; Anticoagulants - adverse effects; anticoagulation; aortic stenosis; atrial fibrillation; Atrial Fibrillation - complications; Atrial Fibrillation - diagnosis; Atrial Fibrillation - drug therapy; bleeding; Cohort Studies; Female; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage - chemically induced; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage - epidemiology; Humans; Intracranial Hemorrhages - chemically induced; ischemic stroke; Ischemic Stroke - drug therapy; Male; Original Research; outcomes; Stroke - epidemiology; Stroke - etiology; Stroke - prevention & control; Warfarin - adverse effects; atrial fibrillation; aortic stenosis; bleeding; outcomes; ischemic stroke; anticoagulation
• ISSN: 2047-9980; 2047-9980
• DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.122.029337

Background Patients with aortic stenosis (AS) have been underrepresented in the trials evaluating direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to assess whether AS impacts outcomes in patients with AF and estimate the effects of DOACs versus warfarin in patients with AF and AS. Methods and Results The registry-based FinACAF (Finnish Anticoagulation in Atrial Fibrillation) study covered all patients with AF diagnosed during 2007 to 2018 in Finland. Hazard ratios (HRs) of first-ever gastrointestinal bleeding, intracranial bleeding, any bleeding, ischemic stroke, and death were estimated with cause-specific hazards regression adjusted for anticoagulant exposure variables. We identified 183 946 patients (50.5% women; mean age, 71.7 [SD, 13.5] years) with incident AF without prior bleeding or ischemic stroke, of whom 5231 (2.8%) had AS. The crude incidence rate of all outcomes was higher in patients with AS than in patients without AS. After propensity score matching, AS was associated with the hazard of any bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding, and death but not with intracranial bleeding or ischemic stroke (adjusted HRs, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.25-1.48], 1.63 [95% CI, 1.43-1.86], 1.32 [95% CI, 1.26-1.38], 0.96 [95% CI, 0.78-1.17], and 1.11 [95% CI, 0.99-1.25], respectively). Among patients with AS, DOACs were associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke when compared with warfarin, while bleeding and mortality did not differ between DOACs and warfarin. Conclusions AS is associated with substantially higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with AF. DOACs may be more effective in preventing ischemic stroke than warfarin in patients with AF and AS. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04645537.