Table 1.

The table showing the characteristics of two randomized-controlled trials investigating the advantages and risks of anticoagulation in subclinical atrial fibrillation patients, comparing outcomes between direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) and a control group.

Trial Name	Study Design and Location	Study Duration	Test Drug (n)/Control (N)	Mean Age	CHA2DS2-VASc Score	Arrhythmia	Stroke or Systemic Embolism	Ischemic Stroke HR (95% CI)	Major Bleeding HR (95% CI)	Cardiovascular Death HR (95% CI)	All-Cause Mortality HR (95% CI)
NOAH-AFNET6 trial. Kirchhof et al. (2023) [15]	Investigator-initiated, DB, double-dummy, RCT. Multicenter.	5 years	Edoxaban (1270)/Placebo (1266)	77.5 ± 6.7	4 ± 1 (Median)	AHRE *	0.65 (0.39 to 1.07)	0.79 (0.45 to 1.39)	2.10 (1.30 to 3.38)	0.90 (CI, 0.62 to 1.31)	1.16 (0.88 to 1.53)
ARTESIA trial. Healey et al. (2023) [16]	DB, double-dummy randomized trial. Multicenter	6 years	Apixaban (2015)/Aspirin (1997)	76.8 ± 7.6	3.9 ± 1.1 (Mean)	SCAF #	0.63 (0.45 to 0.88)	0.62 (0.43 to 0.91)	1.36 (1.01 to 1.82)	0.96 (0.73 to 1.25)	1.04 (0.90 to 1.21)

NOAH-AFNET 6—Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants in Patients with Atrial High-Rate Episodes Trial [15], ARTESIA—Apixaban for the Reduction of Thrombo-Embolism in Patients with Device-Detected Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation Trial [16], n—number of patients, HR—hazard ratio, CI—confidence interval, RCT—randomized controlled trial, DB—double-blind, AHRE—atrial high-rate episode, SCAF—subclinical atrial fibrillation. *—AHREs included in this study are the atrial tachyarrhythmia episodes detected at least 2 months after implantation of the device, with an atrial rate of ≥170 beats per minute and had to last ≥6 min; no upper limit for the duration. #—SCAFs included in this study are the device-detected AF episodes, with at least one episode lasting ≥6 min but not longer than 24 h.