Oral anticoagulant prescribing in elderly patients above and below age 80 with atrial fibrillation

Background: Oral anticoagulation is efficient to prevent ischemic stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF), but in very old patients, physicians always remain cautious to use anticoagulants concerning the bleeding risk. This research aims to investigate the current situation of oral anticoagulation therapy in very old (>= 80 years) AF patients. Materials and methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study in an urban area in China from 2014 to 2016. Characteristics of the very old patients (age >= 80 years) and the younger patients (age < 80 years) were compared. Logistic analysis was used to estimate the association between oral anticoagulation therapy and CHA(2)DS(2)-VASC score. Results: A total of 1,000 AF patients were enrolled; 306 were very old patients, and 694 were younger patients. In the very old group, 48.0% were women, and the average age was 84.12 +/- 3.62 years. In the younger group, 35.3% were women, and the average age was 66.92 +/- 9.02 years. CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc score was 2.8 +/- 1.7 in the younger group and 4.5 +/- 1.5 in the very old group (p < 0.001). The proportion of oral anticoagulation was low in patients with AF (31.8%) and even lower in very old patients compared to younger patients (24.5 vs. 35.0%, p = 0.004). Moreover, oral anticoagulation therapy was strongly associated with CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc scores only in the younger group, but not in the very old group, which means the very old patients were not treated with oral anticoagulation according to their elevated CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc scores. Conclusion: Anticoagulants were underused in AF patients, particularly in very old patients. Evidence is accumulating that the very old patients could still benefit from anticoagulants so that physicians should not exclude such patients from anticoagulation only because of their older age.