• So-Ryoung Lee, Eue-Keun Choi, Soonil Kwon, Jin-Hyung Jung, Kyung-Do Han, Myung-Jin Cha, Seil Oh, and LipGregory Y HGYHFrom the Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Republic of Korea (S.-R.L., E.-K.C., S.K., M.-J.C., S.O., G.Y.H.L.).Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Liverpool Chest and Heart Hospital, University .
• From the Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Republic of Korea (S.-R.L., E.-K.C., S.K., M.-J.C., S.O., G.Y.H.L.).
• Stroke. 2020 Feb 1; 51 (2): 416-423.

AbstractBackground and Purpose- Warfarin is associated with a better net clinical benefit compared with no treatment in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) and history of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). There are limited data on nonvitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in these patients, especially in the Asian population. We aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of NOACs to warfarin in a large-scale nationwide Asian population with AF and a history of ICH. Methods- Using the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment database from January 2010 to April 2018, we identified patients with oral anticoagulant naïve nonvalvular AF with a prior spontaneous ICH. For the comparisons, warfarin and NOAC groups were balanced using propensity score weighting. Ischemic stroke, ICH, composite outcome (ischemic stroke+ICH), fatal ischemic stroke, fatal ICH, death from composite outcome, and all-cause death were evaluated as clinical outcomes. Results- Among 5712 patients with AF with prior ICH, 2434 were treated with warfarin and 3278 were treated with NOAC. Baseline characteristics were well-balanced after propensity score weighting (mean age 72.5 years and CHA2DS2-VASc score 4.0). Compared with warfarin, NOAC was associated with lower risks of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.61-0.97]), ICH (HR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.47-0.92]), and composite outcome (HR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.60-0.88]). NOAC was associated with lower risks of fatal stroke (HR, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.32-0.89]), death from composite outcome (HR, 0.53 [95% CI, 0.34-0.81]), and all-cause death (HR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.69-0.99]) than warfarin. NOAC showed nonsignificant trends toward to reduce fatal ICH compared with warfarin (HR, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.20-1.03]). Conclusions- NOAC was associated with a significant lower risk of ICH and ischemic stroke compared with warfarin. NOAC might be a more effective and safer treatment option for Asian patients with nonvalvular AF and a prior history of ICH.

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