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Concomitant use of a direct-acting oral anticoagulant (DOAC) and aspirin is common in some cardiovascular patients. To learn whether the combination poses bleeding risks, researchers studied the medical records of some 3300 patients in Michigan who received a DOAC to treat nonvalvular atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism; one third of the patients also received aspirin. Patients with a recent myocardial infarction or a history of heart valve replacement were excluded.
Roughly 1000 patients who received a combination of DOAC and aspirin were matched on propensity scores to patients who received a DOAC alone. During a median follow-up of 12 months, patients on combination therapy were more likely than those on a DOAC alone to experien…