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Direct oral anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation: can data from randomized clinical trials be safely transferred to the general population? Yes.
Intern Emerg Med. 2015 Jul 8;
Authors: Riva N, Ageno W
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The current therapeutic options for patients at high thromboembolic risk include the vitamin K antagonists and the direct oral anticoagulants. These novel agents have been evaluated in more than 40,000 patients enrolled in four large randomized controlled trials for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. When these results were pooled together, a greater efficacy profile, as well as a consistent reduction in life-threatening bleeding was shown in comparison to vitamin K antagonists. Randomized controlled trials offer the highest level of evidence on the efficacy and safety of an intervention; however, their results may not be directly applicable to the general population. The results of a number of post-marketing observational studies from the United States and Europe have been published. The results of these studies substantially confirm the findings of the randomized trials and show a favorable safety profile with the use of the direct oral anticoagulants even in unselected populations.
PMID: 26153470 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]