Is Anticoagulation Useful for Patients with Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation?

Patients with prior stroke or transient ischemic attack and device-detected atrial fibrillation benefitted from using apixaban.

As more patients receive pacemakers and implanted cardiac monitors, studies have shown conflicting results regarding the utility of oral anticoagulation (OAC) when short, subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF) episodes are detected. Clinical features that identify a patient subgroup likely to benefit from OAC would be useful. In this analysis of the partially industry-supported, randomized ARTESiA trial, researchers evaluated apixaban (5 mg twice daily) versus aspirin (81 mg daily) in patients age ≥55 years with and without a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) and with device-detected AF lasting from 6 minutes to 24 hours. The primary outcome was stroke or systemic embolism, and the primary safety outcome was major bleeding.…

Reviewing Author

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

Seemant Chaturvedi, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBayer Pharmaceuticals; Novartis

Grant/Research SupportNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Editorial BoardsNeurology; Stroke

Is Anticoagulation Useful for Patients with Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation?

Topics

Reviewing Author