Characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation prescribed antiplatelet monotherapy compared with those on anticoagulants: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF registry

Abstract

Aims Current atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines discourage antiplatelet (AP) monotherapy as alternative to anticoagulants (ACs). Why AP only is still used is largely unknown. Methods and results Factors associated with AP monotherapy prescription were analysed in GARFIELD-AF, a registry of patients with newly diagnosed (6 weeks) AF and 1 investigator-determined stroke risk factor. We analysed 51 270 patients from 35 countries enrolled into five sequential cohorts between 2010 and 2016. Overall, 20.7% of patients received AP monotherapy, 52.1% AC monotherapy, and 14.1% AP AC. Most AP monotherapy (82.5%) and AC monotherapy (86.8%) patients were CHA2DS2-VASc 2. Compared with patients on AC mon..