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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study cohort; comparison between incident cases first prescribed VKAs to those first prescribed NOACs

From: Shifting from vitamin K antagonists to non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in patients with atrial fibrillation: predictors, patterns and temporal trends

 

Incident cases 2012–2015: First treatment prescribed after diagnosis (N = 4559)

p-value

Prevalent patients*

VKA

N = 2338

% (n)

NOACs

N = 2221

% (n)

VKA

N = 5259

% (n)

Years from NVAF diagnosis to 1/1/2012

Median (IQR)

   

7.59

(5; 9.5)

Age (years), Mean (SD)

70.8 (10.7)

72.8 (11.4)

< 0.001

74.5 (9.7)

 Median (IQR)

71.6

(64.2; 78.7)

74.4

(65.9; 80.8)

 

75.2

(68.2; 81.6)

Female sex

43.3% (1012)

46.5% (1033)

0.031

45.7% (2402)

Immigration ≥ 1990

40.5% (946)

28.0% (622)

< 0.001

38.7% (2036)

SES score, Mean (SD)

5.74 (1.75)

6.44 (1.85)

< 0.001

5.93 (1.78)

Median (IQR)

6 (5; 7)

6 (5; 8)

 

6 (5; 7)

District

    

 North

18.3% (429)

18.5% (410)

< 0.001

18.3% (960)

 Sharon

17.3% (405)

18.7% (416)

 

17.6% (924)

 South

20.6% (481)

14.4% (320)

 

19.9% (1049)

 Center

19.2% (448)

27.2% (604)

 

20.0% (1051)

Jerusalem/ Hashfela

24.6% (575)

21.2% (471)

 

24.2% (1275)

CHADS2 score

Mean (SD), Median (IQR)

1.80 (1.17)

2 (1; 2)

2.03 (1.32)

2 (1; 3)

< 0.001

2.42 (1.30)

2 (2;3)

CHADS2 risk levels

    

 0

11.8% (276)

12.0% (266)

< 0.001

4.4% (234)

 1

30.3% (709)

24.8% (550)

 

19.9% (1046)

 ≥ 2

57.9% (1353)

63.3% (1405)

 

75.7% (3979)

CHA2DS2 VASC score Mean (SD)

3.27 (1.70)

3.67 (1.88)

< 0.001

4.01 (1.66)

Median (IQR)

3 (2; 4)

4 (2; 5)

 

4 (3; 5)

Baseline comorbidity

 Congestive heart failure

9.0% (211)

9.0% (199)

0.98

25.9% (1363)

 Ischemic heart disease

24.9% (582)

28.6% (636)

0.005

39.2% (2060)

 Myocardial infarction

12.4% (289)

12.1% (268)

0.796

15.0% (790)

 Cerebrovascular accident

8.0% (188)

12.1% (268)

< 0.001

15.9% (838)

 Transient ischemic attack

4.3% (100)

5.9% (132)

0.013

8.2% (431)

 Peripheral arterial disease

5.6% (131)

5.2% (115)

0.569

9.0% (472)

 Chronic kidney disease

33.4% (782)

37.1% (824)

0.011

50.0% (2628)

 Diabetes mellitus

33.0% (771)

36.6% (813)

0.011

38.5% (2025))

 Hyperlipidemia

80.0% (1871)

84.7% (1882)

< 0.001

88.5% (4654)

 Hypertension

78.4% (1834)

78.7% (1747)

0.888

86.1% (4530)

 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

2.7% ( 62)

2.9% ( 65)

0.636

3.3% (172)

Concomitant medications**

 ACE inhibitors

26.8% (627)

26.7% (594)

0.982

37.7% (1983)

 ARBs

24.3% (568)

28.5% (634)

0.001

61.5% (3232)

 Beta blockers

38.5% (901)

38.7% (859)

0.947

10.1% (533)

 Ca channel blockers

33.2% (777)

33.9% (753)

0.654

49.6% (2611)

 Diuretics

29.2% (682)

29.3% (651)

0.943

5.2% (274)

 Nitrates

2.8% ( 65)

3.0% ( 67)

0.698

0.1% ( 4)

 Aspirin

40.7% (951)

42.0% (932)

0.394

21.3% (1122)

 Other Antiplatelets

6.8% (160)

12.1% (268)

< 0.001

1.6% ( 84)

  1. *At least 2 dispenses in 120 days prior 1-JAN-2012. The status of all time-dependent parameters is shown for 01/01/2012
  2. VKA vitamin K antagonists, NOAC new oral anticoagulants, SES socioeconomic status, ACE angiotensin converting enzyme, ARB angiotensin receptor blocker, SD standard deviation, CHADS congestive heart failure, hypertension, age > 75, diabetes mellitus, stroke/transient ischemic event; scale of 0 (lowest risk) to 6 (highest risk). CHA2DS2-VASc: Congestive heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes mellitus, stroke/transient ischemic event, sex, vascular disease history; scale of 0 (lowest risk) to 9 (highest risk)
  3. Bold means statistically significant, i.e. p < 0.05