Patterns of oral anticoagulant use and outcomes in Asian patients with atrial fibrillation: a post-hoc analysis from the GLORIA-AF Registry
Giulio Francesco Romiti, Bernadette Corica, Marco Proietti, Davide Antonio Mei, Juliane Frydenlund, Arnaud Bisson, Giuseppe Boriani, Brian Olshansky, Yi‐Hsin Chan, Menno V. Huisman, Tze‐Fan Chao, Gregory Y.H. Lip, Dzifa Wosornu Abban, Nasser Abdul, Atilio Marcelo Abud, Fran Adams, Srinivas Addala, Pedro Adragão, Walter Ageno, Rajesh Aggarwal, Sergio Agosti, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Francisco Aguilar, Julio Aguilar Linares, Luis Aguinaga, Jameel Ahmed, Allessandro Aiello, Paul Ainsworth, Jorge Roberto Aiub, Raed Al-Dallow, Lisa Alderson, Jorge Antonio Aldrete Velasco, Dimitrios Alexopoulos, Fernando Alfonso Manterola, Pareed Aliyar, David Alonso, Fernando Costa, José Amado, W. Amara, Mathieu Amelot, Nima Amjadi, Fabrizio Ammirati, Marianna Andrade, Nabil Andrawis, Giorgio Annoni, Gerardo Ansalone, M. Kevin Ariani, Juan Carlos Arias, Sebastien Arméro, Chander Arora, Muhammad Shakil Aslam, M. Asselman, Philippe Audouin, Charles Augenbraun, Şenay Aydın, Ivaneta Ayryanova, Emad F. Aziz, Luciano Marcelo Backes, Erik Badings, Ermentina Bagni, Seth Baker, Richard Bala, Antonio Baldi, Shigenobu Bando, Subhash Banerjee, Alan J. Bank, Gonzalo Barón‐Esquivias, Craig Barr, Maria Bartlett, Vanja Bašić Kes, Giovanni Baula, Steffen Behrens, Alan Bell, Raffaella Benedetti, Juan Benezet Mazuecos, Bouziane Benhalima, Jutta Bergler‐Klein, Jean-Baptiste Berneau, Richard A. Bernstein, Percy Berrospi, Sergio Berti, Andrea Berz, Elizabeth A. Best, Paulo Bettencourt, Robert Betzu, Ravi Bhagwat, Luna Bhatta, Francesco Biscione, Giovanni Bisignani, Toby Black, Michael J. Bloch, Stephen R. Bloom, Edwin Blumberg, Mario Bo, Ellen Bøhmer, Andreas Bollmann, Maria Grazia Bongiorni, Giuseppe Boriani, D.J. Boswijk, Jochen Bott
Abstract
Background: Previous studies suggested potential ethnic differences in the management and outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AF). We aim to analyse oral anticoagulant (OAC) prescription, discontinuation, and risk of adverse outcomes in Asian patients with AF, using data from a global prospective cohort study. Methods: From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase II-III (November 2011-December 2014 for Phase II, and January 2014-December 2016 for Phase III), we analysed patients according to their self-reported ethnicity (Asian vs. non-Asian), as well as according to Asian subgroups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian). Logistic regression was used to analyse OAC prescription, while the risk of OAC discontinuation and adverse outcomes were analysed through Cox-regression model. Our primary outcome was the composite of all-cause death and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The original studies were registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01468701, NCT01671007, and NCT01937377. Findings: 34,421 patients were included (70.0 ± 10.5 years, 45.1% females, 6900 (20.0%) Asian: 3829 (55.5%) Chinese, 814 (11.8%) Japanese, 1964 (28.5%) Korean and 293 (4.2%) other Asian). Most of the Asian patients were recruited in Asia (n = 6701, 97.1%), while non-Asian patients were mainly recruited in Europe (n = 15,449, 56.1%) and North America (n = 8378, 30.4%). Compared to non-Asian individuals, prescription of OAC and non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) was lower in Asian patients (Odds Ratio [OR] and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 0.23 [0.22-0.25] and 0.66 [0.61-0.71], respectively), but higher in the Japanese subgroup. Asian ethnicity was also associated with higher risk of OAC discontinuation (Hazard Ratio [HR] and [95% CI]: 1.79 [1.67-1.92]), and lower risk of the primary composite outcome (HR [95% CI]: 0.86 [0.76-0.96]). Among the exploratory secondary outcomes, Asian ethnicity was associated with higher risks of thromboembolism and intracranial haemorrhage, and lower risk of major bleeding. Interpretation: Our results showed that Asian patients with AF showed suboptimal thromboembolic risk management and a specific risk profile of adverse outcomes; these differences may also reflect differences in country-specific factors. Ensuring integrated and appropriate treatment of these patients is crucial to improve their prognosis. Funding: The GLORIA-AF Registry was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.