Risk of bleeding and stroke with oral anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation in Taiwan: a nationwide cohort study.

BackgroundData on the use of oral anticoagulation (OAC) and antiplatelet therapy and the risk of bleeding and stroke amongst Asian patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are limited. We investigated the risks of bleeding and stroke with use of oral anticoagulation (OAC) and antiplatelet therapy as mono- or combination therapy, in patients with AF from a Chinese nationwide cohort study.MethodsWe studied a cohort of 10384 patients (57.2% men, age 67.8 ± 13.2 yrs) between 1999 and 2010 from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Records of prescriptions were obtained during follow-up. The main outcome was a recurrent stroke during the follow-up period. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models were used for this analysis.ResultsWe documented 1009 events for bleeding, as well as 224 hemorrhagic stroke and 1642 ischemic stroke events during a median 3.2 (interquartile range, 1.05-6.54) years' follow-up. Compared with warfarin users, patients with antiplatelet therapy had a lower risk of bleeding (adjusted relative risk [RR], 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49-0.71, pConclusionIn a national representative cohort, antiplatelet therapy had no significant difference in ischemic stroke risk to warfarin. For bleeding, aspirin had a lower risk compared to warfarin. This may reflect poor anticoagulation control, highlighting important missed opportunities for improved stroke prevention, especially in countries where anticoagulation management is suboptimal.