TABLE 1.

Comparisons of Baseline Characteristics Among Beneficiaries Who Were Newly Diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation and Initiated Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban, or Warfarin Within 60 Days of Diagnosis, by Treatment

		Dabigatran	Rivaroxaban	Warfarin	P Valuea
		n = 2,432	n = 536	n = 14,225
Time at initiation (%)	October 1, 2010-March 3, 2011	8.18	0.00	19.17	< 0.001
	March 4, 2011-July 3, 2011	16.90	0.00	16.40
	July 4, 2011-November 3, 2011	20.23	0.19	14.65
	November 4, 2011-March 3, 2012	22.45	11.75	17.91
	March 4, 2012-July 3, 2012	18.30	34.14	15.71
	July 4, 2012-December 31, 2012	13.94	53.92	16.16
Region (%)	Midwest	20.71	21.46	26.00	< 0.001
	Northeast	21.82	15.30	22.31
	South	41.99	51.87	36.38
	West	15.48	11.38	15.31
Age, years (%)	65 or younger	5.26	5.22	11.04	< 0.001
	65-74	40.83	36.19	33.88
	75 or older	53.91	58.58	55.08
Sex (%)	Women	55.51	61.75	58.19	0.009
Race (%)	White	87.25	89.55	81.90	< 0.001
	Black	4.89	4.66	9.14
	Hispanic	4.11	3.17	5.64
	Asian	1.97	1.68	1.93
	Other	1.77	0.93	1.39
Death (%)		3.70	2.80	8.27	< 0.001
Patient’s insurance, cost-sharing status, and drug coverage benefit at the initiation of an anticoagulant (%)	Dual-eligibles	21.92	18.10	33.08	< 0.001
	Non-dual LIS	4.85	4.48	6.55
	Non-LIS in the initial phase	55.39	58.96	47.45
	Non-LIS in the coverage gap phase	4.98	4.85	4.78
	Non-LIS in the catastrophic phase	1.03	0.56	0.78
	National PACE or employer-sponsored	11.84	13.06	7.35
Preexisting chronic conditions (%)	Acute myocardial infarction	5.88	7.09	8.65	< 0.001
	Ischemic heart disease	61.92	64.93	64.93	0.016
	Stroke/transient ischemic attack	19.04	15.11	23.54	< 0.001
	Diabetes	38.73	40.67	45.64	< 0.001
	Chronic kidney disease	23.81	24.81	35.27	< 0.001
	Congestive heart failure	40.75	36.57	52.79	< 0.001
	Hypertension	88.86	90.86	87.58	0.020
	Hypothyroidism	21.42	23.88	21.74	0.454
	Cancersb	14.06	15.86	14.81	0.477
Number of 12 CCW chronic conditionsc (%)	3 or fewer	42.68	38.99	38.56	< 0.001
	4-6	45.23	46.64	44.75
	7 or more	12.09	14.37	16.70
CHADS2 score (%)	1 or fewer	23.56	21.27	18.52	< 0.001
	2-3	52.30	57.28	49.85
	4 or more	24.14	21.46	31.63
Previous use of other medicationsd (%)	Antiplatelete	7.07	8.58	4.70	< 0.001
	NSAIDf	7.28	6.90	7.35
Gross drug cost (mean [± SD])		264.34 [125.38]	269.37 [128.54]	12.37 [14.7]	< 0.001
Patient pay amount toward an anticoagulant (mean [± SD])	Dual-eligibles	3.33 [2.15]	3.4 [2.52]	0.96 [1.01]
	Non-dual LIS	12.51 [17.29]	17.87 [27.3]	1.96 [1.53]	< 0.001
	Non-LIS in the initial phase	82.25 [59.52]	77.15 [55.24]	7.57 [10.44]
	Non-LIS in the coverage gap phase	143.61 [80.02]	109.1 [27.15]	9.89 [12.08]
	Non-LIS in the catastrophic phase	11.79 [4.29]	12.09 [0.00]	2.76 [1.29]
	National PACE or employer-sponsored	56.62 [52.41]	65.81 [58.77]	8.07 [10.35]
CMS-RxHCC risk scores (mean [± SD])		0.94 [0.36]	0.96 [0.33]	1.00 [0.43]	< 0.001

Notes: CHADS2 score is a prediction measure of the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation in which congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 years, and diabetes are assigned 1 point. Previous stroke or transient ischemic attack is assigned 2 points. The score is calculated as the sum of all points for a given patient. The number of other comorbidities has been calculated as the sum of a previous history of Alzheimer’s disease, related disorders or senile dementia, anemia, asthma, benign prostatic hyperplasia, cataract, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, hip or pelvic fracture, glaucoma, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.

^aWe tested differences using chi-square tests for categorical variables and F-tests for numerical variables.

^bCancers include breast, colorectal, prostate, lung, and endometrial.

^c12 CCW chronic conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, related disorders or senile dementia, anemia, asthma, benign prostatic hyperplasia, cataract, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, glaucoma, hip or pelvic fracture, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.

^d“Previous use of other medications” is defined as any use of either antiplatelet or NSAID within 60 days before the first use of an anticoagulant.

^eAntiplatelet includes any drug formulation that includes aspirin, clopidrogrel, prasugrel, ticagrelor, ticlopidine, or dipyridamole.

^fNSAID includes any drug formulation that includes diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, flurbiprofen, piroxicam, meloxicam, mefenamic acid, or indomethacin.

CCW = Chronic Condition Warehouse; LIS = low-income subsidy; NSAID = nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PACE = Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; RxHCC = prescription drug hierarchical condition category; SD = standard deviation.