Antithrombotic Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation with Stable Coronary Disease

N Engl J Med. 2019 Sep 19;381(12):1103-1113. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1904143. Epub 2019 Sep 2.

Abstract

Background: There are limited data from randomized trials evaluating the use of antithrombotic therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease.

Methods: In a multicenter, open-label trial conducted in Japan, we randomly assigned 2236 patients with atrial fibrillation who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) more than 1 year earlier or who had angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease not requiring revascularization to receive monotherapy with rivaroxaban (a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant) or combination therapy with rivaroxaban plus a single antiplatelet agent. The primary efficacy end point was a composite of stroke, systemic embolism, myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring revascularization, or death from any cause; this end point was analyzed for noninferiority with a noninferiority margin of 1.46. The primary safety end point was major bleeding, according to the criteria of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis; this end point was analyzed for superiority.

Results: The trial was stopped early because of increased mortality in the combination-therapy group. Rivaroxaban monotherapy was noninferior to combination therapy for the primary efficacy end point, with event rates of 4.14% and 5.75% per patient-year, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.55 to 0.95; P<0.001 for noninferiority). Rivaroxaban monotherapy was superior to combination therapy for the primary safety end point, with event rates of 1.62% and 2.76% per patient-year, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.89; P = 0.01 for superiority).

Conclusions: As antithrombotic therapy, rivaroxaban monotherapy was noninferior to combination therapy for efficacy and superior for safety in patients with atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease. (Funded by the Japan Cardiovascular Research Foundation; AFIRE UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number, UMIN000016612; and ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02642419.).

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Equivalence Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aspirin / therapeutic use
  • Atrial Fibrillation / complications
  • Atrial Fibrillation / drug therapy*
  • Atrial Fibrillation / mortality
  • Coronary Artery Bypass
  • Coronary Disease / complications
  • Coronary Disease / therapy*
  • Drug Therapy, Combination / adverse effects
  • Factor Xa Inhibitors / adverse effects
  • Factor Xa Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / adverse effects
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Purinergic P2Y Receptor Antagonists / therapeutic use
  • Rivaroxaban / adverse effects
  • Rivaroxaban / therapeutic use*

Substances

  • Factor Xa Inhibitors
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors
  • Purinergic P2Y Receptor Antagonists
  • Rivaroxaban
  • Aspirin

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT02642419
  • UMIN-CTR/UMIN000016612