Nine-Year Trend of Anticoagulation Use, Thromboembolic Events, and Major Bleeding in Patients With Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation　– Shinken Database Analysis –

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Background:Trends of oral anticoagulant (OAC) prescription and incidence of thromboembolism (TE) and/or major bleeding (MB) in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) in Japan are still unclear.Methods and Results:We used data from Shinken Database 2004–2012, which included all new patients attending the Cardiovascular Institute between June 2004 and March 2013. Of them, 2,434 patients were diagnosed with NVAF. Patients were divided into 3 time periods according to the year of initial visit: 2004–2006 (n=681), 2007–2009 (n=833), and 2010–2012 (n=920). OAC prescription rate steadily increased from 2004–2006 to 2010–2012. Between 2004–2006 and 2007–2009, irrespective of increased warfarin usage, MB tended to decrease, presumably due to low-intensity therapy and avoidance of concomitant use of dual antiplatelets, but TE did not improve. In 2010–2012, direct OACs (DOAC), preferred in low-risk patients, may have contributed to not only decrease TE, but also increase MB, especially extracranial bleeds. In high-risk patients in that time period, mostly treated with warfarin, incidence of TE and MB did not improve.Conclusions:The 9-year trend of stroke prevention indicated a steady increase of OAC prescription and a partial improvement of TE and MB. Even in the era of DOAC, TE prevention was insufficient in high-risk patients, and DOAC were associated with increased extracranial bleeding.