Table 4. Crude, age- and sex-adjusted, and multivariable adjusted hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals of outcomes compared between anticoagulated AF patients with versus without polypharmacy (≥5 vs. <5 concomitantly used drugs) using cox proportional hazard regression models.
| Polypharmacy vs. no polypharmacy (≥5 vs. <5 drugs) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude HR (95% CI) | Age- and sex-adjusted HR (95% CI) a | Multivariable-adjusted HR (95% CI) b | |
| Effectiveness | |||
| Stroke/SE | 1.42 (1.35–1.50) | 1.37 (1.30–1.44) | 1.08 (1.02–1.15) |
| Ischemic stroke | 1.47 (1.36–1.57) | 1.36 (1.27–1.47) | 1.09 (1.01–1.18) |
| All-cause mortality | 2.27 (2.20–2.35) | 2.00 (1.94–2.07) | 1.45 (1.40–1.50) |
| Safety | |||
| Major bleeding | 1.79 (1.72–1.86) | 1.72 (1.66–1.79) | 1.29 (1.23–1.35) |
| Intracranial bleeding | 1.54 (1.43–1.66) | 1.54 (1.43–1.66) | 1.23 (1.14–1.33) |
| Gastrointestinal bleeding | 1.82 (1.73–1.93) | 1.73 (1.64–1.83) | 1.32 (1.24–1.40) |
Abbreviations: AF, atrial fibrillation; CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio; OAC, oral anticoagulant; SE, systemic embolism.
a
Adjusted for age and sex.
b
Adjusted for age, sex, OAC type, baseline comorbidities, and medication history with backward elimination.