Researchers at University of Tartu Release New Study Findings on Atrial Fibrillation (Lifeday coverage of oral anticoagulants and one-year relative survival in patients with atrial fibrillation: a population-based study in Estonia): Heart Disorders and Diseases – Atrial Fibrillation

2023 AUG 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Disease Prevention Daily -- Investigators publish new report on atrial fibrillation. According to news originating from the University of Tartu by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Routine oral anticoagulation (OAC) is recommended for almost all high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation, yet registries show that OACs are still underused. Our aim was to study the lifeday coverage (LDC) of OAC prescriptions and its relationship with one-year mortality rates of AF patients aged 65 in Estonia for the years 2019 and 2020.”

Funders for this research include Eesti Teadusagentuur.

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from University of Tartu: “Medical data for AF patients aged 65 years from 2018 and alive as of 01.01.2019 (cohort I) and new AF documentation from 2019 and alive as of 01.01.2020 (cohort II) was obtained from the Health Insurance Fund’s electronic database. The data was linked to the nationwide Estonian Medical Prescription Centre’s database of prescribed OACs. For LDC analysis, daily doses of guideline-recommended OACs were used. The patients were categorized into three LDC groups: 0%, 1-79%, and 80%. The data was linked to the Estonian Causes of Death Registry to establish the date of death and mortality rate for the whole Estonian population aged 65. There were 34,018 patients in cohort I and 9,175 patients with new AF documentation (cohort II), previously not included in cohort I. Of the patients, 77.7% and 68.6% had at least one prescription of OAC in cohorts I and II respectively. 57.4% in cohort I and 44.5% in cohort II had an LDC of 80%. The relative survival estimates at 1 year for LDC lifeday coverage groups 0%, 1-79%, and 80% were 91.2%, 98.2%, and 98.5% (cohort I), and 91.9%, 95.2%, and 97.6% (cohort II), respectively.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Despite clear indications for OAC use, LDC is still insufficient and anticoagulation is underused for stroke prevention in Estonia. Further education of the medical community and patients is needed to achieve higher lifeday coverage of prescribed OACs.”

For more information on this research see: Lifeday coverage of oral anticoagulants and one-year relative survival in patients with atrial fibrillation: a population-based study in Estonia. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, 2023,23(1):1-10. (BMC Cardiovascular Disorders - http://bmccardiovascdisord.biomedcentral.com). The publisher for BMC Cardiovascular Disorders is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-023-03415-4.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Priit Pauklin, Department of Cardiology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tartu. Additional authors for this research include Toomas Marandi, Mart Kals, Tiia Ainla, Katrin Martinson, Jaan Eha, Priit Kampus.

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