Perceived vs. objective frailty in patients with atrial fibrillation and impact on anticoagulant dosing: an ETNA-AF-Europe sub-analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Perceived vs. objective frailty in patients with atrial fibrillation and impact on anticoagulant dosing: an ETNA-AF-Europe sub-analysis

AU - Diemberger, Igor

AU - Fumagalli, Stefano

AU - Mazzone, Anna Maria

AU - Bakhai, Ameet

AU - Reimitz, Paul Egbert

AU - Pecen, Ladislav

AU - Manu, Marius Constantin

AU - Gordillo de Souza, José Antonio

AU - Kirchhof, Paulus

AU - De Caterina, Raffaele

N1 - © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.

PY - 2022/10/13

Y1 - 2022/10/13

N2 - AIMS: Frailty is common in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), with possible impact on therapies and outcomes. However, definitions of frailty are variable, and may not overlap with frailty perception among physicians. We evaluated the prevalence of frailty as perceived by enrolling physicians in the Edoxaban Treatment in Routine Clinical Practice for Patients With Non-Valvular AF (ETNA-AF)-Europe registry (NCT02944019), and compared it with an objective frailty assessment.METHODS AND RESULTS: ETNA-AF-Europe is a prospective, multi-centre, post-authorization, observational study. There we assessed the presence of frailty according to (i) a binary subjective investigators' judgement and (ii) an objective measure, the Modified Frailty Index. Baseline data on frailty were available in 13 621/13 980 patients. Prevalence of perceived frailty was 10.6%, with high variability among participating countries and healthcare settings (range 5.9-19.6%). Conversely, only 5.0% of patients had objective frailty, with minimal variability (range 4.5-6.7%); and only <1% of patients were identified as frail by both approaches. Compared with non-frailty-perceived, perceived frail patients were older, more frequently female, and with lower body weight; conversely, objectively frail patients had more comorbidities. Non-recommended edoxaban dose regimens were more frequently prescribed in both frail patient categories.CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' perception of frailty in AF patients is variable, mainly driven by age, sex, and weight, and quite different compared with the results of an objective frailty assessment. Whatever the approach, frailty appears to be associated with non-recommended anticoagulant dosages. Whether this apparent inappropriateness influences hard outcomes remains to be assessed.

AB - AIMS: Frailty is common in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), with possible impact on therapies and outcomes. However, definitions of frailty are variable, and may not overlap with frailty perception among physicians. We evaluated the prevalence of frailty as perceived by enrolling physicians in the Edoxaban Treatment in Routine Clinical Practice for Patients With Non-Valvular AF (ETNA-AF)-Europe registry (NCT02944019), and compared it with an objective frailty assessment.METHODS AND RESULTS: ETNA-AF-Europe is a prospective, multi-centre, post-authorization, observational study. There we assessed the presence of frailty according to (i) a binary subjective investigators' judgement and (ii) an objective measure, the Modified Frailty Index. Baseline data on frailty were available in 13 621/13 980 patients. Prevalence of perceived frailty was 10.6%, with high variability among participating countries and healthcare settings (range 5.9-19.6%). Conversely, only 5.0% of patients had objective frailty, with minimal variability (range 4.5-6.7%); and only <1% of patients were identified as frail by both approaches. Compared with non-frailty-perceived, perceived frail patients were older, more frequently female, and with lower body weight; conversely, objectively frail patients had more comorbidities. Non-recommended edoxaban dose regimens were more frequently prescribed in both frail patient categories.CONCLUSIONS: Physicians' perception of frailty in AF patients is variable, mainly driven by age, sex, and weight, and quite different compared with the results of an objective frailty assessment. Whatever the approach, frailty appears to be associated with non-recommended anticoagulant dosages. Whether this apparent inappropriateness influences hard outcomes remains to be assessed.

KW - Administration, Oral

KW - Anticoagulants

KW - Atrial Fibrillation/diagnosis

KW - Europe/epidemiology

KW - Female

KW - Frailty/diagnosis

KW - Humans

KW - Prospective Studies

KW - Pyridines

KW - Stroke/epidemiology

KW - Thiazoles

U2 - 10.1093/europace/euac004

DO - 10.1093/europace/euac004

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 35512229

VL - 24

SP - 1404

EP - 1411

JO - EUROPACE

JF - EUROPACE

SN - 1099-5129

IS - 9

ER -