Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study population
| Variable | Overall (n = 14 432) | No VKA (n = 7023) | VKA (n = 7409) | P | SMD | SMDIPTW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic variables | ||||||
| Age (y) | 78.4 [72.6‐83.8] | 79.7 [73.0‐85.6] | 77.4 [72.3‐82.4] | <0.0001 | 0.16 | 0.00 |
| Female sex | 6983 (48.4%) | 3678 (52.4%) | 3305 (44.6%) | <0.0001 | 0.16 | 0.00 |
| Insurance status | — | — | — | <0.0001 | — | — |
| Private | 1006 (7.0%) | 561 (8.0%) | 445 (6.0%) | — | 0.08 | 0.08 |
| Public | 13 425 (93.0%) | 6461 (92.0%) | 6964 (94.0%) | — | 0.08 | 0.08 |
| Unknown | 1 (0.0%) | 1 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | — | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Practice locationa | — | — | — | 0.85 | — | — |
| West Germany | 11 058 (76.6%) | 5386 (76.7%) | 5672 (76.6%) | — | 0.00 | 0.01 |
| East Germany | 3374 (23.4%) | 1637 (23.3%) | 1737 (23.4%) | — | 0.00 | 0.01 |
| CHA2DS2‐VASc score and its items | ||||||
| CHA2DS2‐VASc score | 4 [3‐5] | 4 [3‐5] | 4 [3‐5] | <0.0001 | 0.09 | 0.04 |
| Age <65 y | 1317 (9.1%) | 713 (10.2%) | 604 (8.2%) | — | 0.07 | 0.17 |
| Age 65‐74 y | 3679 (25.5%) | 1517 (21.6%) | 2162 (29.2%) | — | 0.17 | 0.11 |
| Age ≥ 75 y | 9436 (65.4%) | 4793 (68.3%) | 4643 (62.7%) | — | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| Hypertension | 12 118 (84.5%) | 5859 (83.4%) | 6329 (85.4%) | 0.001 | 0.06 | 0.00 |
| Congestive heart failure | 6731 (46.6%) | 3197 (45.5%) | 3534 (47.7%) | 0.009 | 0.04 | 0.00 |
| Stroke/TIA | 2400 (16.6%) | 1197 (17.0%) | 1203 (16.2%) | 0.19 | 0.02 | 0.00 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 7926 (54.9%) | 3908 (55.7%) | 4018 (54.2%) | 0.088 | 0.03 | 0.00 |
| Female sex | 6983 (48.4%) | 3678 (52.4%) | 3305 (44.6%) | <0.0001 | 0.16 | 0.00 |
| Vascular disease | 3051 (21.1%) | 1612 (23.0%) | 1439 (19.4%) | <0.0001 | 0.09 | 0.00 |
| Other variables | ||||||
| First eGFR at or after baseline (mL/min/1.73 m2) | 48 [36‐61] | 47 [35‐62] | 48 [37‐60] | 0.34 | 0.03 | 0.00 |
| Aspirin use at or after baseline | 4619 (32.0%) | 3064 (43.6%) | 1555 (21.0%) | <0.0001 | 0.50 | 0.17 |
Distribution overall and by exposure to VKA at or after baseline. Continuous variables are summarized as medians (25th percentile [Q1] through 75th percentile [Q3]), whereas categorical variables are reported as absolute frequencies and percentages.
eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; IPTW, inverse‐probability‐of‐treatment‐weight; SMD, standardized mean difference; TIA, transient ischaemic attack; VKA, vitamin K antagonist.
P‐values for difference between patients with and without documented exposure to VKA are from Pearson's chi‐squared tests (categorical variables) or Wilcoxon rank‐sum tests (continuous variables). SMDs ≥ 0.2 indicating a potentially relevant imbalance between the two study groups.