Ischemic Stroke despite Oral Anticoagulant Therapy in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
David Seiffge, Gian Marco De Marchis, Masatoshi Koga, Maurizio Paciaroni, Duncan Wilson, Manuel Cappellari, Kosmas Macha, Georgios Tsivgoulis, Gareth Ambler, Shoji Arihiro, Leo H. Bonati, Bruno Bonetti, Bernd Kallmünzer, Keith W. Muir, Paolo Bovi, Henrik Gensicke, Manabu Inoue, Stefan Schwab, Shadi Yaghi, Martin M. Brown, Philippe Lyrer, Masahito Takagi, Monica Acciarrese, Hans Rolf Jäger, Alexandros A. Polymeris, Ḱazunori Toyoda, Michele Venti, Christopher Traenka, Hiroshi Yamagami, Andrea Alberti, Sohei Yoshimura, Valeria Caso, Stefan T. Engelter, David J. Werring, the RAF, RAF‐DOAC, CROMIS‐2, SAMURAI, NOACISP, Erlangen, and Verona registry collaborators
Abstract
Objective It is not known whether patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) with ischemic stroke despite oral anticoagulant therapy are at increased risk for further recurrent strokes or how ongoing secondary prevention should be managed. Methods We conducted an individual patient data pooled analysis of 7 prospective cohort studies that recruited patients with AF and recent cerebral ischemia. We compared patients taking oral anticoagulants (vitamin K antagonists [VKA] or direct oral anticoagulants [DOAC]) prior to index event (OAC prior ) with those without prior oral anticoagulation (OAC naive ). We further compared those who changed the type (ie, from VKA or DOAC, vice versa, or DOAC to DOAC) of anticoagulation (OAC changed ) with those who continued the same anticoagulation as secondary prevention (OAC unchanged ). Time to recurrent acute ischemic stroke (AIS) was analyzed using multivariate competing risk Fine–Gray models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results We included 5,413 patients (median age = 78 years [interquartile range (IQR) = 71–84 years]; 5,136 [96.7%] had ischemic stroke as the index event, median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale on admission = 6 [IQR = 2–12]). The median CHA 2 DS 2 ‐Vasc score (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age≥ 75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke/transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age 65–74 years, sex category) was 5 (IQR = 4–6) and was similar for OAC prior (n = 1,195) and OAC naive (n = 4,119, p = 0.103). During 6,128 patient‐years of follow‐up, 289 patients had AIS (4.7% per year, 95% CI = 4.2–5.3%). OAC prior was associated with an increased risk of AIS (HR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.2–2.3, p = 0.005). OAC changed (n = 307) was not associated with decreased risk of AIS (HR = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.7–2.1, p = 0.415) compared with OAC unchanged (n = 585). Interpretation Patients with AF who have an ischemic stroke despite previous oral anticoagulation are at a higher risk for recurrent ischemic stroke despite a CHA 2 DS 2 ‐Vasc score similar to those without prior oral anticoagulation. Better prevention strategies are needed for this high‐risk patient group. ANN NEUROL 2020;87:677–687