Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of stroke and death. Oral anticoagulants (OAC) are highly effective in reducing the risk of stroke, and direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) became available worldwide in 2011.
Methods and results: The Fushimi AF Registry is an on-going prospective survey of AF patients in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The study cohort consisted of 4,489 patients (mean age 73.6 years, 59.6% male, mean CHADS2score 2.03), enrolled in 2011-2017. From 2011 to 2021, antithrombotic therapy has undergone a major transition; the proportion of patients receiving OAC has increased from 53% to 70%, with a steady uptake of DOAC (from 2% to 52%), whereas the proportion of patients receiving antiplatelet agents has decreased from 32% to 14%. Over a median follow-up of 5.1 years, the incidence of stroke/systemic embolism (SE), major bleeding, and all-cause death was 2.2%, 1.9%, and 4.9% per patient-year, respectively. The incidence of stroke/SE (1.6% vs. 2.3%; P<0.01), major bleeding (1.6% vs. 2.0%; P=0.07), and death (4.2% vs. 5.0%; P<0.01) was lower among patients enrolled in 2014-2017 than in 2011-2013, despite comparable baseline characteristics (age 73.2 vs. 73.7 years, CHADS2score 2.03 vs. 2.04, and HAS-BLED score 1.67 vs. 1.77, respectively).
Conclusions: Over the past 10 years, there has been a major transition in antithrombotic therapy and a decline in the incidence of adverse events in AF patients.
Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Bleeding; Direct oral anticoagulant; Stroke.