Baseline patient characteristics
| Variable | All (n=68 056) | NOAC (n=18 638) | Warfarin (n=49 418) |
| Age, mean (median) | 73.6 (74) | 73.4 (74) | 73.7 (75) |
| Women | 30 714 | 45.6% | 45.0% |
| Married/cohabitant | 36 192 | 52.9% | 53.3% |
| Immigrant | 7623 | 11.5% | 11.1% |
| Higher education (>12 years) | 14 753 | 25.7% | 20.2% |
| Income, mean* (median) | 216 (165) | 232 (172) | 209 (163) |
| Years since first AF diagnosis, mean (median) | 1.93 (0.04) | 2.48 (0.08) | 1.72 (0.03) |
| CHA2DS2-VASc score, mean (median) | 3.34 (3) | 3.24 (3) | 3.38 (3) |
| Bleeding history | |||
| Any major bleeding | 6659 | 10.2% | 9.6% |
| Intracranial | 882 | 1.6% | 1.2% |
| Gastrointestinal | 2210 | 3.4% | 3.2% |
| Other major bleeding | 4236 | 6.4% | 6.2% |
| Thromboembolic history | |||
| Ischaemic stroke | 8838 | 13.4% | 12.8% |
| Unspecified stroke | 423 | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| Systemic embolism | 605 | 0.7% | 1.0% |
| Transient ischaemic attack | 4128 | 6.1% | 6.1% |
| Pulmonary embolism | 1867 | 1.9% | 3.1% |
| Anaemia | 6267 | 8.8% | 9.4% |
| Coagulation or platelet defect | 688 | 0.9% | 1.1% |
| Renal failure | 2768 | 2.5% | 4.7% |
| Liver disease | 866 | 1.4% | 1.2% |
| Heart failure | 14 942 | 19.5% | 22.9% |
| Hypertension | 41 889 | 61.1% | 61.7% |
| Diabetes | 12 253 | 16.1% | 18.7% |
| Myocardial infarction | 9150 | 10.8% | 14.4% |
| Valvular disease† | 6515 | 7.6% | 10.3% |
| Pacemaker/Implantable cardioverter defibrillator | 5055 | 8.2% | 7.1% |
| Thyrotoxicosis within preceding year | 499 | 0.7% | 0.8% |
| Hypothyroidism | 4642 | 6.9% | 6.8% |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 5002 | 6.8% | 7.6% |
| Asthma | 3924 | 5.9% | 5.7% |
| Cancer within preceding 3 years | 6043 | 8.6% | 9.0% |
| Alcohol index‡ | 2023 | 3.3% | 2.9% |
| Dementia | 1031 | 1.9% | 1.4% |
| Hospitalised for fall accidents≥2 times | 2872 | 4.8% | 4.0% |
| Aspirin, clopidogrel or NSAID at index | 9572 | 12.7% | 14.6% |
↵*Disposable annual income or pension in thousands of Swedish crowns, after taxes and related to number of persons in the household.
↵†Other valvular disease than what is counted as exclusion criteria, for example, mostly mitral regurgitation, aortic sclerosis and/or stenosis common among elderly subjects.
↵‡Set of diagnostic codes used by the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare for reporting of alcohol-related mortality. See appendix.
AF, atrial fibrillation; NOAC, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.