Real-world Comparative Effectiveness of Dabigatran Versus Vitamin K Antagonist

Inclusion Criteria:

- Non-valvular atrial fibrillation will be defined as the occurrence of 2 or more
inpatient or outpatient claims with ICD-9 427.31 (International Classification of
Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification) as the diagnosis code at any time in
the patient's data history prior to inclusion

- Patients will be required to have 180 days of enrollment for the assessment of
baseline characteristics

- CHA2DS2-Vasc (Diabetes mellitus; S2: prior Stroke or TIA or Thromboembolism; V:
Vascular disease; A: Age 65-74 years; Sc: Sex category ) score ≥2 during the 180 days
prior to index dabigatran use baseline period

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients <18 years of age

- Patients with valvular Atrial fibrillation

- Pregnancy

- Malignant cancers

- Transient cause of Atrial fibrillation

- Patients with Venous thromboembolism (pulmonary embolism or Deep Vein Thrombosis)

- Patients with major surgery defined as hip or knee replacement

- Prescriptions of Oral anticoagulants (OACs) {apixaban, warfarin, dabigatran,
rivaroxaban} before index date

- Prescription of more than one OAC on the index date

- Patient with any of the events defined in the composite endpoint