Abstract
BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in adults and increases stroke risk. Treatment with oral anticoagulants (OACs) may reduce this risk however many patients do not receive OAC therapy. This study aimed to use electronic health record data to identify newly diagnosed AF patients at high risk for stroke and not anticoagulated as well as factors associated with OAC prescription. HYPOTHESIS: Timely prescription of OACs among patients with newly diagnosed AF is poor. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of patients with a new diagnosis of AF. We assessed stroke risk with the CHA(2) DS(2) -VASc score. The primary outcome was prescription of an OAC within 6 months following diagnosis. We used logistic regression to see how the odds of being prescribed an OAC differs for 17 independent variables. RESULTS: We identified 18 404 patients with a new diagnosis of AF. Among patients at high risk for stroke, 41.3% received an OAC prescription within 6 months. Male sex, Caucasian compared to African American race, stroke, obesity, congestive heart failure, vascular disorder, current antiplatelet, beta blocker, or calcium channel blocker prescription, and increasing CHA(2) DS(2) -VASc score were positively associated with receiving an OAC. Whereas anemia, renal dysfunction, liver dysfunction, antiarrhythmic drug use and increasing HAS-BLED score were negatively associated. CONCLUSIONS: Most newly diagnosed AF patients at high stroke risk do not receive an OAC prescription in the first 6 months following diagnosis. Our analysis suggests that patient sex, race, comorbidities, and additional prescriptions are associated with rates of OAC prescribing.