PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Lee, Young-Soo AU - Oh, Yong Seog AU - Choi, Eue-Keun AU - Chern, Alan Koay Choon AU - Jiampo, Panyapat AU - Chutinet, Aurauma AU - Hanafy, Dicky Armein AU - Trivedi, Prabhav AU - Zhai, Dongmei TI - Patient perception and treatment convenience of dabigatran versus vitamin K antagonist when used for stroke prophylaxis in atrial fibrillation: Real-world Evaluation of Long-term Anticoagulant Treatment Experience (RE-LATE) study AID - 10.1136/openhrt-2021-001745 DP - 2021 Dec 01 TA - Open Heart PG - e001745 VI - 8 IP - 2 4099 - http://openheart.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001745.short 4100 - http://openheart.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001745.full SO - Open Heart2021 Dec 01; 8 AB - Purpose Dabigatran is a direct thrombin inhibitor approved for stroke prophylaxis in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Real-world data about patient preference, satisfaction and convenience in patients in Asia are not available. The study aimed to explore the perception of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF regarding dabigatran versus vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), when used for stroke prevention.Patients and methods This was a multinational, multicentre, non-interventional study involving 49 sites across 5 countries in South East Asia and South Korea where 934 patients newly diagnosed with NVAF were initiated on either dabigatran (N=591) or VKA (N=343). Data were collected at baseline and over two follow-up visits across 6 months. Treatment satisfaction and patient convenience were evaluated using the Perception on Anticoagulant Treatment Questionnaire-2 (PACT-Q2).Results The mean age of the patients was 65.9±10.4 years, and 64.2% were male. Mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 2.4±1.5, and mean HAS-BLED score was 1.2±0.9. At baseline, patients initiated on dabigatran had higher stroke risk, bleeding risk, creatinine clearance and proportion of patients with concomitant illnesses compared with patients initiated on VKAs. Treatment convenience was perceived to be significantly better with dabigatran versus VKAs at visits 2 and 3 (p=0.0423 and 0.0287, respectively). Treatment satisfaction was significantly better with dabigatran compared with VKAs at visit 3 (p=0.0300).Conclusion In this study, dabigatran is associated with better patient perception in terms of treatment convenience and satisfaction compared with VKAs when used for stroke prevention in newly diagnosed NVAF patients from South East Asia and South Korea.Trial registration number NCT02849509.Plain language summary Patient satisfaction with dabigatran versus VKAs in South East Asia. Patients with atrial fibrillation are at high risk of stroke and require anticoagulants for stroke prevention. Two such anticoagulants are dabigatran and VKAs. We wanted to compare the extent of satisfaction and treatment convenience among newly diagnosed patients with atrial fibrillation from the South East Asian region when they were given either dabigatran or VKAs. Consenting patients filled out a standardised questionnaire called the PACT-Q2 over three visits after they were started on either dabigatran (591 patients) or VKAs (343 patients). We found that satisfaction and convenience were significantly higher when patients received dabigatran than when they received VKAs.Data are available on reasonable request. To ensure independent interpretation of clinical study results, Boehringer Ingelheim grants all external authors access to relevant material, including participant-level clinical study data, as needed by them to fulfill their role and obligations as authors under the ICMJE criteria. Clinical study documents and participant clinical study data are available to be shared on request after publication of the primary manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal, and if regulatory activities are complete and other criteria met as per the BI Policy on Transparency and Publication of Clinical Study Data (see Medical & Clinical Trials%7CClinical Research%7CMyStudyWindow). Bona fide, qualified scientific and medical researchers are eligible to request access to the clinical study data with corresponding documentation describing the structure and content of the datasets. Upon approval, and governed by a Legal Agreement, data are shared in a secured data-access system for a limited period of 1 year, which may be extended upon request. Prior to providing access, clinical study documents and data will be examined, and, if necessary, redacted and de-identified, to protect the personal data of study participants and personnel, and to respect the boundaries of the informed consent of the study participants.Researchers should use the https://vivli.org/ link to request access to study data and visit Medical & Clinical Trials%7CClinical Research%7CMyStudyWindow for further information