![Since 2010, four new direct oral anticoagulant drugs (DOACs) have been rapidly adopted and contributed to an increase in atrial fibrillation patients treated with anticoagulants. In the image, micrograph of a blood clot showing erythrocytes and leukocytes](https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/blood-clot-micrograph-erythrocytes-and-leukocytes-15-927x617.jpg)
Yale Rosen / Wikimedia Commons
Since 2010, four new direct oral anticoagulant drugs (DOACs, also known as NOACs) — dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban — have been introduced into US clinical practice. To assess their uptake, researchers analysed data from a nationally representative audit of physician visits.
Between 200
9 and 2014, visits in
which patients were using an oral anticoagulant rose from 2.05 million to 2.83 million per quarter (
P
<0.001), with DOACs accounting for 38.2% of the total in 2014. Visits involving patients with atrial fibrillation using anticoagulants rose from 51.9% in 2009 to 66.9% in 2014. In 2014, rivaroxaban was the most commonly
prescribed DOAC for atrial fibrillation (47.9% of total visits), followed by apixaban (26.5%) and dabigatran (25.5%). Edoxaban had not yet been introduced.
D
OACs have been rapidly adopted and have contributed to an increase in atrial fibrillation patients treated with anticoagulants, conclude the aut
hors in
The American Journal of Medicine
(online, 2 July 2015)
[1]
.
References
[1] Barnes GD, Lucas E, Alexander GC et al. National trends in ambulatory oral anticoagulant use. Am J Med 2015. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.05.044.
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