Outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation on oral anticoagulation with and without heart failure

  • Renate B Schnabel (Shared first author)
  • Pietro Ameri (Shared first author)
  • Jolanta M Siller-Matula
  • Igor Diemberger
  • Marianne Gwechenberger
  • Ladislav Pecen
  • Marius Constantin Manu
  • José Souza
  • Raffaele De Caterina
  • Paulus Kirchhof
  • ETNA-AF-Europe investigators

Related Research units

Abstract

AIMS: Heart failure (HF) is a risk factor for major adverse events in atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether this risk persists on non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and varies according to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is debated.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated the relation of HF in the ETNA-AF-Europe registry, a prospective, multicentre, observational study with an overall 4-year follow-up of edoxaban-treated AF patients. We report 2-year follow-up for ischaemic stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA)/systemic embolic events (SEE), major bleeding, and mortality. Of the 13 133 patients, 1854 (14.1%) had HF. Left ventricular ejection fraction was available for 82.4% of HF patients and was <40% in 671 (43.9%) and ≥40% in 857 (56.1%). Patients with HF were older, more often men, and had more comorbidities. Annualized event rates (AnERs) of any stroke/SEE were 0.86%/year and 0.67%/year in patients with and without HF. Compared with patients without HF, those with HF also had higher AnERs for major bleeding (1.73%/year vs. 0.86%/year) and all-cause death (8.30%/year vs. 3.17%/year). Multivariate Cox proportional models confirmed HF as a significant predictor of major bleeding [hazard ratio (HR) 1.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20-2.26] and all-cause death [HF with LVEF <40% (HR 2.42, 95% CI: 1.95-3.00) and HF with LVEF ≥40% (HR 1.80, 95% CI: 1.45-2.23)] but not of ischaemic stroke/TIA/SEE.

CONCLUSION: Anticoagulated patients with HF at baseline featured higher rates of major bleeding and all-cause death, requiring optimized management and novel preventive strategies. NOAC treatment was similarly effective in reducing risk of ischaemic events in patients with or without concomitant HF.

Bibliographical data

Original languageEnglish
ISSN1099-5129
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 02.08.2023

Comment Deanary

© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.

PubMed 37713182