AF: Oral anticoagulants ‘severely underutilised’ in discharged patients

Large Australian study shows three in four patients with AF miss out on the therapy
Clare Pain
NOAC tablets

Fewer than a quarter of Australian patients with a hospital diagnosis of AF were dispensed oral anticoagulants in the first month after discharge, say the authors of a large study.

In the analysis of 71,000 people in NSW and Victoria, discharged between 2010 and 2015, with either a primary or secondary diagnosis of AF, just 22.7% initiated oral anticoagulants within 30 days despite guidelines recommending their use.