Therapies for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation: Update and Review

Course overview

Atrial fibrillation affects about 4 million people in the United States. It leads to more than 700,000 hospital admissions each year. Complications related to atrial fibrillation cost the U.S. healthcare system roughly $6 billion annually. Risk factors for atrial fibrillation include age, hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, thyroid disease, and alcohol abuse. Anticoagulation with warfarin, a vitamin K antagonist, has been the mainstay of stroke prevention for patients with atrial fibrillation but presents inherent risks and difficulties. Recently, a number of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants, also called novel oral anticoagulants, have been developed for clinical use and are being increasingly used for this purpose.