The use of apixaban instead of vitamin K antagonists (VKA) as well as dropping aspirin results in less bleeding and comparable ischemic events in patients with atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndrome and/or percutaneous coronary intervention treated with a P2Y12 inhibitor.
Objectives
The authors assessed the safety and efficacy of antithrombotic regimens according to HAS-BLED and CHA2DS2-VASc scores in AUGUSTUS (The Open-Label, 2 × 2 Factorial, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety of Apixaban vs. Vitamin K Antagonist and Aspirin vs. Placebo in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Acute Coronary Syndrome and/or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention).
Methods
In AUGUSTUS, 4,614 patients were randomized in a 2-by-2 factorial design to open-label apixaban or VKA and blinded aspirin or placebo. The primary endpoint was major or clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding over 6 months of follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess treatment effects by baseline HAS-BLED (≤2 vs ≥3) and CHA2DS2-VASc (≤2 vs ≥3) scores.
Results
Of 4,386 (95.1%) patients with calculable scores, 66.8% had HAS-BLED ≥3 and 81.7% had CHA2DS2-VASc ≥3. Bleeding rates were lower with apixaban than VKA irrespective of baseline risk (HR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.41-0.78 [HAS-BLED ≤2]; HR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.59-0.88 [HAS-BLED ≥3]; interaction P = 0.23). Aspirin increased bleeding irrespective of baseline risk (HR: 1.86; 95% CI: 1.36-2.56 [HAS-BLED ≤2]; HR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.47-2.23 [HAS-BLED ≥3]; interaction P = 0.88). Apixaban resulted in a lower risk of death or hospitalization than VKA without a significant interaction with baseline stroke risk (HR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.67-1.25 [CHA2DS2-VASc ≤2]; HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.73-0.94 [CHA2DS2-VASc ≥3]; interaction P = 0.53).
Conclusions
Our findings support the use of apixaban and a P2Y12 inhibitor without aspirin for most patients with atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndrome and/or percutaneous coronary intervention, irrespective of a patient’s baseline bleeding and stroke risk (NCT02415400).
Central Illustration
Key Words
antithrombotic therapy
apixaban
atrial fibrillation
bleeding
risk scores
stroke
Abbreviations and Acronyms
ACS
acute coronary syndrome
AF
atrial fibrillation
CRNM
clinically relevant nonmajor
DAPT
dual antiplatelet therapy
ISTH
International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Athena Poppas, MD, served as Guest Editor-in-Chief for this paper.
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