Attitudes toward anticoagulant treatment among nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients at high risk of stroke and low risk of bleed

Figures & data

Figure 1 Study sample selection.

Abbreviations: AC, anticoagulant; NVAF, nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for high-risk stroke/low-risk bleed patients who are not currently using an anticoagulant or have never used an anticoagulant

Participant characteristics	Unweighted (n=230)		Projected (n=556,493)
	n/M	%/SD	n/M	%/SD
Age (years) (M and SD)	67.17	9.63	74.83	10.24
Age (years), n and %
20–54	23	10.0	25,123	4.5
55–59	17	7.4	21,107	3.8
60–64	29	12.6	29,982	5.4
65–69	66	28.7	69,958	12.6
70–74	49	21.3	94,072	16.9
75–79	28	12.2	106,165	19.1
80–84	13	5.7	76,899	13.8
≥85	5	2.2	133,187	23.9
Sex, n and %
Male	102	44.3	196,975	35.4
Female	128	55.7	359,518	64.6
Race/ethnicity, n and %
White	219	95.2	541,859	97.4
Black	8	3.5	7,807	1.4
Other	3	1.3	6,828	1.2
Marital status, n and %
Married	144	62.6	307,301	55.2
Single, never married	17	7.4	27,122	4.9
Divorced	32	13.9	76,204	13.7
Separated	2	0.9	2,078	0.4
Widowed	25	10.9	131,542	23.6
Living with partner	10	4.3	12,246	2.2
Education, n and %
Less than high school	2	0.9	3,322	0.6
High school	40	17.4	84,298	15.1
Some college	70	30.4	152,715	27.4
College degree	58	25.2	132,399	23.8
Some graduate school	16	7.0	62,940	11.3
Graduate degree	44	19.1	120,820	21.7
Household income, n and %
>$15k	19	8.3	31,125	5.6
$15k to <$25k	35	15.2	89,785	16.1
$25k to <$35k	27	11.7	84,423	15.2
$35k to <$50k	32	13.9	80,903	14.5
$50k to <$75k	37	16.1	67,814	12.2
$75k to <$100k	32	13.9	45,777	8.2
$100k to <$125k	12	5.2	21,719	3.9
$125k to <$150k	6	2.6	43,482	7.8
$150k +	10	4.3	20,930	3.8
Declined to answer	20	8.7	70,536	12.7
BMI, n and %
Underweight (<18.5)	1	0.4	2,770	0.5
Normal (18.5 to <25)	44	19.1	157,081	28.2
Overweight (25 to <30)	72	31.3	152,163	27.3
Obese (≥30)	103	44.8	224,522	40.3
Declined to answer	10	4.3	19,956	3.6
Smoking status, n and %
Yes, I smoke	16	7.0	16,523	3.0
Yes, but I am trying to quit	9	3.9	12,707	2.3
No, I quit smoking	88	38.3	223,935	40.2
No, I never smoked cigarettes	117	50.9	30,328	54.5
How often do you drink alcohol?, n and %
Daily	23	10.0	72,414	13.0
4–6 times a week	12	5.2	32,097	5.8
2–3 times a week	27	11.7	45,353	8.1
Once a week	14	6.1	18,529	3.3
2–3 times a month	22	9.6	37,327	6.7
Once a month or less often	47	20.4	136,676	24.6
I do not drink alcohol	85	37.0	214,097	38.5
Currently exercise, n and %	138	60.0	342,821	61.6
Frailty, n and %	62	27.0	172,615	31.0

Note: Income values are in USD.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; M, mean; SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Which of the following are reasons why you stopped taking an AC to treat your AF?

Factor	Patients (%)	Patients (n)
Bleeding concern	27.8	22
Medical	26.6	21
Patient beliefs and preferences	21.5	17
Self-efficacy	13.9	11
Cost	7.6	6

Notes: N=79 former AC users. Factors listed in order of most to least common.

Abbreviations: AC, anticoagulant; AF, atrial fibrillation.

Table 3 Why weren’t you prescribed an anticoagulant (eg, warfarin) to treat your AF?

Factor	Patients (%)	Patients (n)
Antiplatelets	57.1	84
Stroke risk	17.7	26
Other	4.8	7
Physician order	1.4	2

Notes: N=147. Patients advised to select all factors that apply. Factors listed in order of most to least common responses.

Abbreviation: AF, atrial fibrillation.

Table 4 Patient preference factors associated with anticoagulant treatment

Factor	M	SD
Authority	5.07	0.98
Cost concerns/patient preferences	4.13	1.01
Medication cautiousness	3.77	1.07

Note: All items were answered on a seven point Likert-type scale where 1= “strongly disagree” and 7= “strongly agree”.

Abbreviations: M, mean; SD, standard deviation.

Table 5 Attitudes toward anticoagulant treatment

Item	M	SD
Taking a pill once a day with a meal, such as dinner	3.98	0.85
Taking a pill twice a day with or without a meal	3.59	1.04
Taking a pill that requires frequent follow-up visits (at least once a month) to a doctor	2.56	1.07
Taking a pill that may require dosage changes often	2.50	0.99
Taking a medication that requires that I avoid eating certain foods (such as leafy greens and certain fruits)	2.50	1.02
Taking a medication that requires routine monitoring with blood tests once a month	2.42	1.04

Notes: 1= “not at all willing” and 5= “extremely willing”; Items are ranked by willingness, from most willing to least willing.

Abbreviations: M, mean; SD, standard deviation.

Figure S1 Reasons for stopping taking an anticoagulant (asked of previous anticoagulant users).

Figure S2 Atrial fibrillation treatment (asked of those who were prescribed an anticoagulant but did not fill the prescription).

Figure S3 Atrial fibrillation treatment (asked of those who were never prescribed an anticoagulant).

Figure S4 Patient preferences for anticoagulant treatment.

Figure S5 Patient dosing regimen characteristics.