• Woldesellassie M Bezabhe, Luke R Bereznicki, Jan Radford, Barbara C Wimmer, Mohammed S Salahudeen, Edward Garrahy, Ivan Bindoff, and Gregory M Peterson.
• School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• Eur. J. Clin. Invest. 2021 Jun 1; 51 (6): e13489.

AimTo examine the change in stroke risk over time and determine the proportion of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were initiated on an oral anticoagulant (OAC) as their stroke risk increased from low/moderate to high, using the Australian general practice data set, MedicineInsight.MethodsA total of 2296 patients diagnosed with AF between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2008, aged 18 years or older and not initiated on an OAC before 2009, were included. We assessed the change in stroke risk and the proportion of patients who had a recorded prescription of an OAC, each year from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2018.ResultsAt baseline, 23.9%, 22.9% and 53.2% were categorised as being at low (score = 0), moderate (score = 1) and high stroke risk (score ≥ 2), respectively, using the sexless CHA2 DS2 -VASc (CHA2 DS2 -VA) score. Overall, the CHA2 DS2 -VA score increased by a mean of 1.34 (95% confidence interval, 1.29-1.39) points over the study period. Nearly two-thirds of patients (65%, 412/632) whose stroke risk changed from baseline low/moderate to high were subsequently prescribed an OAC. The median (interquartile range) lag time from becoming high stroke risk to having OAC initiation was 2 (5) years.ConclusionsNearly one-third of patients reclassified as being at high risk of stroke during the study period were not prescribed OAC therapy. Furthermore, the delay in OAC initiation following classification as being at high risk was a median of 2 years, suggesting that more frequent stroke reassessment is needed.© 2021 Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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