Frailty and Anticoagulant Therapy in Patients Aged 65 Years or Older with Atrial Fibrillation

Background:Elderly adults with atrial fi brillation(AF)are at increased risk of frailty and thromboembolic complications.However,studies on the prevalence of frailty in AF patients and data on the relationship between frailty and the use of anticoagulants are limited.Methods:We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 500 participants.Patients aged 65 years or older were consecutively selected from the Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry study.The patient’s frailty status was assessed with use of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale.We assessed the prevalence of and factors associated with frailty,and how frailty affects anticoagulant therapy.Results:In 500 elderly adults with AF(age 75.2±6.7 years;51.6%female),201 patients(40.2%)were frail.The prevalence of frailty was higher in females(P=0.002)and increased with age and CHA 2 DS 2-VASc score(P for trend less than 0.001 for both).The factors associated with frailty were a history of heart failure(odds ratio[OR]2.40,95%confi dence interval[CI]1.39–4.14),female sex(OR 2.09,95%CI 1.27–3.43),and advanced age(OR 1.13,95%CI 1.09–1.17).Frail patients were signifi cantly less likely to have ever been prescribed anticoagulants compared with nonfrail patients(81.7 vs.54.9%,P<0.001).Conclusions:Frailty is prevalent in elderly adults with AF,especially in females,those of advanced age,and those with heart failure.Frailty status has a signifi cant impact on prescription of anticoagulants for high-risk AF patients.

Oral anti-coagulants use in Chinese hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation

Background:Oral anti-coagulants(OAC)are the intervention for the prevention of stroke,which consistently improve clinical outcomes and survival among patients with atrial fibrillation(AF).The main purpose of this study is to identify problems in OAC utilization among hospitalized patients with AF in China.Methods:Using data from the Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China-Atrial Fibrillation(CCC-AF)registry,guideline-recommended OAC use in eligible patients was assessed.Results:A total of 52,530 patients with non-valvular AF were enrolled from February 2015 to December 2019,of whom 38,203 were at a high risk of stroke,9717 were at a moderate risk,and 4610 were at a low risk.On admission,only 20.0%(6075/30,420)of patients with a diagnosed AF and a high risk of stroke were taking OAC.The use of pre-hospital OAC on admission was associated with a lower risk of new-onset ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack among the diagnosed AF population(adjusted odds ratio:0.54,95%confidence interval:0.43-0.68;P<0.001).At discharge,the prescription rate of OAC was 45.2%(16,757/37,087)in eligible patients with high stroke risk and 60.7%(2778/4578)in eligible patients with low stroke risk.OAC utilization in patients with high stroke risk on admission or at discharge both increased largely over time(all P<0.001).Multivariate analysis showed that OAC utilization at discharge was positively associated with in-hospital rhythm control strategies,including catheter ablation(adjusted odds ratio[OR]11.63,95%confidence interval[CI]10.04-13.47;P<0.001),electronic cardioversion(adjusted OR 2.41,95%CI 1.65-3.51;P<0.001),and anti-arrhythmic drug use(adjusted OR 1.45,95%CI 1.38-1.53;P<0.001).Conclusions:In hospitals participated in the CCC-AF project,>70%of AF patients were at a high risk of stroke.Although poor performance on guideline-recommended OAC use was found in this study,over time the CCC-AF project has made progress in stroke prevention in the Chinese AF population.Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov,NCT02309398.

ABC-AF-Stroke score predicts thromboembolism in nonanticoagulated patients following successful atrial fibrillation ablation: a report from the Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry

Background:The age,biomarkers,and clinical history(ABC)-atrial fibrillation(AF)-Stroke score have been proposed to refine stroke risk stratification,beyond what clinical risk scores such as the CHA2DS2-VASc score can offer.This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with thromboembolism and evaluate the performance of the ABC-AF-Stroke score in predicting thromboembolism in non-anticoagulated AF patients following successful ablations.Methods:A total of 2692 patients who underwent successful ablations with discontinued anticoagulation after a 3-month blanking period in the Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry(CAFR)between 2013 and 2019 were included.Cox regression analysis was conducted to present the association of risk factors with thromboembolism risk.The ABC-AF-Stroke score was evaluated in terms of discrimination,including concordance index(C-index),net reclassification improvement(NRI)and integrated discrimination improvement(IDI),clinical utilization by decision curve analysis(DCA),and calibration by comparing the predicted risk with the observed annualized event rate.Results:After a median follow-up of 3.5 years,64 patients experienced thromboembolism events.Age,prior history of stroke/transient ischemic attack(TIA),high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T(cTnT-hs),and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP)were independently associated with thromboembolism risk.The ABC-AF-Stroke score performed statistically significantly better than the CHA2DS2-VASc score in terms of C-index(0.67,95%confidence interval[CI]:0.59-0.74 vs.0.60,95%CI:0.52-0.67,P=0.030)and reclassification capacity.The DCA implied that the ABC-AF-Stroke score could identify more thromboembolism events without increasing the false positive rate compared to the CHA2DS2-VASc score.The calibration curve showed that the ABC-AF-Stroke score was well calibrated in this population.Conclusions:In this real-world study enrolling non-anticoagulated AF patients following successful ablations,age,prior history of stroke/TIA,level of NT-proBNP,and cTnT-hs were independently associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism.The ABC-AF-Stroke score was well-calibrated and statistically significantly outperformed the CHA2DS2-VASc score in predicting thromboembolism risk.

Mild Renal Dysfunction and Risk of Thromboembolism and Bleeding in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation:The Chinese Atrial Fibrillation Registry Study

Objective:Previous studies indicated that patients with atrial fibrillation(AF)and moderate-to-severe chronic kidney disease(CKD)are at a higher risk of thromboembolism and bleeding during anticoagulation.Whether mild CKD is associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism and bleeding in AF patients remains unknown.This study aimed to evaluate the impact of mild CKD on thromboembolism and major bleeding among patients with AF.Methods:Baseline serum creatinine was available in 17,559 of 25,512 patients enrolled in the China-AF study between August 2011 and December 2018.After excluding those who underwent AF ablation or with moderate-to-severe CKD,7191 non-valvular AF patients(2059 with mild CKD and 5132 with normal renal function)with regular follow-up for at least 6 months were included.Primary outcomes were the time to the first occurrence of thromboembolic and major bleeding events.Results:Over a mean follow-up of(44.4±23.4)months,639 thromboembolism and 231 major bleeding events occurred.The crude incidence rates of thromboembolism were higher in the mild CKD group than that of the normal renal function group(3.0/100 person-years vs.2.2/100 person-years,P<0.0001),while the crude incidence rates of major bleeding were comparable between the two groups(1.0/100 person-years vs.0.8/100 person-years,P=0.076).After multivariate analyses,mild CKD was not associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism(HR=1.05,95%CI:0.89-1.25,P=0.547)or major bleeding(HR=1.11,95%CI:0.84–1.47,P=0.476).Conclusions:Mild CKD was not an independent risk factor of thromboembolism or major bleeding in patients with AF.