Effect of Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants in Atrial Fibrillation Patients with Newly Diagnosed Cancer.

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesThere are limited data on the use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with cancer. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of NOACs in AF patients with cancer in this study.MethodsIn 2,568 consecutive non-valvular AF patients with newly diagnosed cancer, we analyzed ischemic stroke/systemic embolism (SE), major bleeding, and all-cause death. Based on propensity score matching, 388 matched pairs were included in the NOAC and warfarin groups.ResultsPatient baseline characteristics were comparable between the matched groups. During median follow-up of 1.8 years, the NOAC group had significantly lower incidences of ischemic stroke/SE (p<0.001), major bleeding (p<0.001), and all-cause death (p<0.001) than the warfarin group. Moreover, the incidence of major bleeding was significantly lower in the NOAC group than in the warfarin group with optimal international normalized ratio control (p=0.03). Especially, within 1 year after cancer diagnosis, the incidences of all clinical events were significantly lower in the NOAC group than in the warfarin group.ConclusionsIn AF patients with newly diagnosed cancer, NOACs showed lower incidences of ischemic stroke/SE, major bleeding, and all-cause death than warfarin, especially within 1 year after cancer diagnosis.