Academic Editors: Giuseppe Nasso and Giuseppe Santarpino
Background: The use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in
patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) has been increasing.
Accordingly, the combined use of antiplatelet agents (APT) and NOAC therapy is
commonly encountered in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to
compare the clinical outcomes between combination therapy (NOAC and APT) vs.
monotherapy (NOAC only) in patients with AF. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed
patients who were prescribed NOACs between January 2012 and December 2016. The
primary outcome was major bleeding and any bleeding events, and the secondary
outcomes were stroke/systemic embolic (SE) events and major adverse cardiac
events (MACE). Results: Of the 1068 participants, there were 264 (24.7%)
patients in the combination therapy group. The prevalence of diabetes (p = 0.017)
and history of stroke and transient ischemic attacks (p