[Oral anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: What is the guideline for using new drugs?]

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether there are differences between atrial fibrillation (AF) patients initiating new direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOAC) therapy and vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy in an emergency service.

METHODS: Descriptive, observational, prospective study. We enrolled patients with AF who were visited in a hospital emergency service over one year.

RESULTS: This study included 492 patients with AF, and 189 subjects received anticoagulant therapy, 104 with VKA (55%), and 85 with DOAC (45%). The VKA group: mean age 76.1 years, male 50.9% and female 49.1%, CHA2 DS2 -VASc mean 3.2±1.3 points, and a HAS-BLED mean of 1.9±0.8 points. The DOAC group: mean age 73.4 years, male 37.6% and female 63.3%, CHA2 DS2 -VASc mean 3.1±1.6 points, and a HAS-BLED mean of 1.7±0.8 points. On analysing the medical history, 17.3% of patients in the VKA group had a previous stroke, and 13.5% significant valve disease, as well as 7.1 and 1.2% of patients, respectively, in the DOAC group. In the analysis of the DOAC types, 24.2% of patients in the dabigatran group had a previous stroke, 22.7% in the rivaroxaban group had ischaemic heart disease.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with AF who start on treatment in emergency services with VKA or with DOAC show a similar profile of age, gender, CHA2 DS2 -VASc score, and HAS-BLED score. The patients with a history of valvular or ischaemic heart disease received more VKA than DOAC. When the patient has a history of stroke, the DOAC more used is dabigatran, and in patients with ischaemic heart disease it is preferred to give rivaroxaban.