Baseline characteristics of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation by stroke risk and oral anticoagulant use
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entire cohort n = 64 093 | High stroke risk† n = 36 199 | Moderate stroke risk† n = 14 411 | |||
| Oral anticoagulant n = 20 180 | No oral anticoagulant n = 16 019 | Oral anticoagulant n = 6448 | No oral anticoagulant n = 7963 | ||
| Age, mean ± SD, yr | 69.0 ± 15.9 | 76.9 ± 10.3 | 77.0 ± 12.3 | 64.9 ± 8.4 | 61.3 ± 11.0 |
| Age group, yr | |||||
| 18–64 | 22 720 (35.4) | 2694 (13.3) | 2671 (16.7) | 2464 (38.2) | 3997 (50.2) |
| 65–74 | 14 983 (23.4) | 3874 (19.2) | 2618 (16.3) | 3984 (61.8) | 3966 (49.8) |
| ≥ 75 | 26 390 (41.2) | 13 612 (67.4) | 10 730 (67.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Sex | |||||
| Female | 29 074 (45.4) | 9710 (48.1) | 8024 (50.1) | 2414 (37.4) | 3406 (42.8) |
| Male | 35 019 (54.6) | 10 470 (51.9) | 7995 (49.9) | 4034 (62.6) | 4557 (57.2) |
| Health care zone | |||||
| Calgary | 21 391 (33.4) | 6824 (33.8) | 4695 (29.3) | 2150 (33.3) | 2568 (32.2) |
| Central | 9424 (14.7) | 3116 (15.4) | 2591 (16.2) | 1035 (16.0) | 1047 (13.1) |
| Edmonton | 21 076 (32.9) | 6268 (31.1) | 5675 (35.4) | 2027 (31.4) | 2830 (35.5) |
| North | 6806 (10.6) | 1851 (9.2) | 1756 (11.0) | 682 (10.6) | 976 (12.3) |
| South | 5396 (8.4) | 2121 (10.5) | 1302 (8.1) | 554 (8.6) | 542 (6.8) |
| Residence | |||||
| Urban | 54 707 (85.4) | 17 247 (85.5) | 13 648 (85.2) | 5356 (83.1) | 6754 (84.8) |
| Rural | 9272 (14.5) | 2906 (14.4) | 2345 (14.6) | 1077 (16.7) | 1186 (14.9) |
| Missing | 114 (0.2) | 27 (0.1) | 26 (0.2) | 15 (0.2) | 23 (0.3) |
| Pampalon deprivation index score | |||||
| Material deprivation | |||||
| 5 (most deprived) | 13 100 (20.4) | 4142 (20.5) | 3409 (21.3) | 1390 (21.6) | 1659 (20.8) |
| 4 | 13 434 (21.0) | 4328 (21.4) | 3283 (20.5) | 1378 (21.4) | 1653 (20.8) |
| 3 | 11 354 (17.7) | 3492 (17.3) | 2591 (16.2) | 1190 (18.5) | 1490 (18.7) |
| 2 | 10 054 (15.7) | 3094 (15.3) | 2368 (14.8) | 1031 (16.0) | 1305 (16.4) |
| 1 (least deprived) | 10 631 (16.6) | 3116 (15.4) | 2458 (15.3) | 1109 (17.2) | 1432 (18.0) |
| Not defined | 5520 (8.6) | 2008 (10.0) | 1910 (11.9) | 350 (5.4) | 424 (5.3) |
| Social deprivation | |||||
| 5 (most deprived) | 17 147 (26.8) | 5594 (27.7) | 4492 (28.0) | 1390 (21.6) | 1659 (20.8) |
| 4 | 14 473 (22.6) | 4740 (23.5) | 3582 (22.4) | 1378 (21.4) | 1653 (20.8) |
| 3 | 10 851 (16.9) | 3332 (16.5) | 2573 (16.1) | 1190 (18.5) | 1490 (18.7) |
| 2 | 7384 (11.5) | 2189 (10.9) | 1588 (9.9) | 1031 (16.0) | 1305 (16.4) |
| 1 (least deprived) | 8718 (13.6) | 2317 (11.5) | 1874 (11.7) | 1109 (17.2) | 1432 (18.0) |
| Not defined | 5520 (8.6) | 2008 (10.0) | 1910 (11.9) | 350 (5.4) | 424 (5.3) |
| Location of initial atrial fibrillation diagnosis | |||||
| Outpatient | 52 969 (82.6) | 16 886 (83.7) | 11 460 (71.5) | 5979 (92.7) | 6786 (85.2) |
| Inpatient | 11 124 (17.4) | 3294 (16.3) | 4559 (28.5) | 469 (7.3) | 1177 (14.8) |
| No. of comorbidities | |||||
| 0 | 9088 (14.2) | 746 (3.7) | 616 (3.8) | 771 (12.0) | 846 (10.6) |
| 1 | 12 628 (19.7) | 2447 (12.1) | 1786 (11.1) | 2402 (37.2) | 2974 (37.3) |
| 2 | 13 407 (20.9) | 4600 (22.8) | 3333 (20.8) | 1819 (28.2) | 2132 (26.8) |
| ≥ 3 | 28 970 (45.2) | 12 387 (61.4) | 10 284 (64.2) | 1456 (22.6) | 2011 (25.2) |
| Comorbidities | |||||
| Heart failure | 12 219 (19.1) | 6470 (32.1) | 4803 (30.0) | 526 (8.2) | 420 (5.3) |
| Hypertension | 40 849 (63.7) | 17 453 (86.5) | 13 536 (84.5) | 4305 (66.8) | 5555 (69.8) |
| Diabetes | 14 718 (23.0) | 7682 (38.1) | 6070 (37.9) | 415 (6.4) | 551 (6.9) |
| Ischemic stroke or TIA | 11 334 (17.7) | 6307 (31.2) | 5027 (31.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Chronic kidney disease | 30 843 (48.1) | 13 062 (64.7) | 10 118 (63.2) | 2124 (32.9) | 2224 (27.9) |
| Pulmonary disease | 15 861 (24.7) | 6014 (29.8) | 5098 (31.8) | 1174 (18.2) | 1464 (18.4) |
| Acute myocardial infarction | 4593 (7.2) | 1872 (9.3) | 1631 (10.2) | 341 (5.3) | 352 (4.4) |
| Cancer | 5066 (7.9) | 1715 (8.5) | 1513 (9.4) | 376 (5.8) | 602 (7.6) |
| Peripheral artery disease | 2702 (4.2) | 1126 (5.6) | 926 (5.8) | 146 (2.3) | 165 (2.1) |
| Thyroid disease | 9667 (15.1) | 3672 (18.2) | 3075 (19.2) | 722 (11.2) | 960 (12.1) |
| Cirrhosis | 348 (0.5) | 53 (0.3) | 117 (0.7) | 25 (0.4) | 58 (0.7) |
| CHADS2 score‡ | |||||
| 0 | 13 959 (21.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1454 (22.5) | 1867 (23.4) |
| 1 | 15 155 (23.6) | 168 (0.8) | 162 (1.0) | 4994 (77.4) | 6096 (76.6) |
| 2 | 15 831 (24.7) | 10 024 (49.7) | 8304 (51.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| 3 | 9381 (14.6) | 4932 (24.4) | 3745 (23.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| 4 | 6044 (9.4) | 3259 (16.1) | 2300 (14.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| 5 | 2888 (4.5) | 1403 (7.0) | 1179 (7.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| 6 | 835 (1.3) | 394 (2.0) | 329 (2.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| CHADS2 score, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (2–4) | 2 (2–3) | 1 (1–1) | 1 (1–1) |
Note: IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation, TIA = transient ischemic attack.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.
↵† Excludes patients who died within 90 days of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation diagnosis.
↵‡ A score of 0 = low risk of stroke, a score of 1 or 0 and age 65–74 years = moderate risk of stroke, and any score above 1 = high risk of stroke.