Table 1.
Baseline characteristics before overlap weighting. Values are presented as median (interquartile range) or number (%)
| Variables | Before overlap weighting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early atrial fibrillation treatment (≤1 year since diagnosis) | Late atrial fibrillation treatment (>1 year since diagnosis) | ||||||
| Rhythm control (n=9246) | Rate control (n=7077) | ASD (%) | Rhythm control (n=4407) | Rate control (n=1905) | ASD (%) | ||
| Age (years) | 69 (61-75) | 72 (64-78) | 23.0 | 68 (60-74) | 72 (65-78) | 32.1 | |
| Age groups: | |||||||
| <65 | 3143 (34.0) | 1867 (26.4) | 16.6 | 1652 (37.5) | 467 (24.5) | 28.3 | |
| 65-74 | 3585 (38.8) | 2465 (34.8) | 8.2 | 1694 (38.4) | 695 (36.5) | 4.0 | |
| ≥75 | 2518 (27.2) | 2745 (38.8) | 24.8 | 1061 (24.1) | 743 (39.0) | 32.5 | |
| Male | 4892 (52.9) | 3675 (51.9) | 2.0 | 2472 (56.1) | 1161 (60.9) | 9.9 | |
| AF duration (months) | 0.2 (0.0-1.4) | 0.0 (0.0-0.2) | 28.5 | 66.1 (33.6-109.0) | 55.1 (27.7-91.0) | 22.7 | |
| Enrolment year: | |||||||
| 2011 | 580 (6.3) | 448 (6.3) | 0.2 | 361 (8.2) | 133 (7.0) | 4.6 | |
| 2012 | 1514 (16.4) | 1318 (18.6) | 5.9 | 838 (19.0) | 379 (19.9) | 2.2 | |
| 2013 | 1908 (20.6) | 1553 (21.9) | 3.2 | 951 (21.6) | 421 (22.1) | 1.3 | |
| 2014 | 2260 (24.4) | 1589 (22.5) | 4.7 | 1028 (23.3) | 443 (23.3) | 0.2 | |
| 2015 | 2984 (32.3) | 2169 (30.6) | 3.5 | 1229 (27.9) | 529 (27.8) | 0.3 | |
| High tertile of income | 4429 (47.9) | 2981 (42.1) | 11.6 | 2134 (48.4) | 859 (45.1) | 6.7 | |
| No of OPD visits ≥12/year | 7938 (85.9) | 5425 (76.7) | 23.7 | 3874 (87.9) | 1543 (81.0) | 19.2 | |
| Living in metropolitan areas | 4422 (47.8) | 3003 (42.4) | 10.9 | 2051 (46.5) | 775 (40.7) | 11.8 | |
| Level of care initiating treatment: | |||||||
| Tertiary | 5637 (61.0) | 2849 (40.3) | 42.3 | 2933 (66.6) | 784 (41.2) | 52.7 | |
| Secondary | 3304 (35.7) | 3680 (52.0) | 33.2 | 1357 (30.8) | 924 (48.5) | 36.8 | |
| Primary | 305 (3.3) | 548 (7.7) | 19.6 | 117 (2.7) | 197 (10.3) | 31.6 | |
| Risk scores: | |||||||
| CHA2DS2-VASc score | 4 (3-5) | 4 (3-5) | 3.1 | 4 (3-6) | 4 (3-6) | 3.3 | |
| mHAS-BLED score* | 2 (2-3) | 2 (2-3) | 21.4 | 3 (2-4) | 3 (2-3) | 3.7 | |
| Charlson comorbidity index | 4 (2-6) | 3 (1-5) | 34.3 | 5 (3-7) | 4 (3-6) | 18.1 | |
| Hospital frailty risk score | 2.4 (0.0-6.2) | 2.5 (0.0-6.5) | 4.1 | 3.6 (0.8-8.0) | 4.0 (0.8-9.2) | 8.5 | |
| Medical history: | |||||||
| Heart failure | 4534 (49.0) | 3885 (54.9) | 11.7 | 2897 (65.7) | 1048 (55.0) | 22.1 | |
| Previous admission to hospital for heart failure | 1083 (11.7) | 1167 (16.5) | 13.8 | 752 (17.1) | 201 (10.6) | 19.0 | |
| Hypertension | 7796 (84.3) | 4539 (64.1) | 47.4 | 4127 (93.6) | 1555 (81.6) | 37.1 | |
| Diabetes | 2893 (31.3) | 1780 (25.2) | 13.7 | 1443 (32.7) | 530 (27.8) | 10.7 | |
| Dyslipidaemia | 7937 (85.8) | 5320 (75.2) | 27.2 | 4053 (92.0) | 1614 (84.7) | 22.7 | |
| Ischaemic stroke | 2841 (30.7) | 2400 (33.9) | 6.8 | 1582 (35.9) | 895 (47.0) | 22.6 | |
| Transient ischaemic attack | 1040 (11.2) | 570 (8.1) | 10.8 | 603 (13.7) | 215 (11.3) | 7.3 | |
| Intracranial bleeding | 203 (2.2) | 163 (2.3) | 0.7 | 184 (4.2) | 86 (4.5) | 1.7 | |
| Myocardial infarction | 809 (8.7) | 408 (5.8) | 11.5 | 701 (15.9) | 197 (10.3) | 16.5 | |
| Peripheral arterial disease | 1464 (15.8) | 758 (10.7) | 15.1 | 899 (20.4) | 318 (16.7) | 9.5 | |
| Valvular heart disease | 795 (8.6) | 725 (10.2) | 5.6 | 773 (17.5) | 322 (16.9) | 1.7 | |
| Chronic kidney disease | 689 (7.5) | 312 (4.4) | 12.9 | 424 (9.6) | 116 (6.1) | 13.2 | |
| Proteinuria | 673 (7.3) | 452 (6.4) | 3.5 | 368 (8.4) | 161 (8.5) | 0.4 | |
| Hyperthyroidism | 1147 (12.4) | 552 (7.8) | 15.3 | 927 (21.0) | 199 (10.4) | 29.4 | |
| Hypothyroidism | 1311 (14.2) | 667 (9.4) | 14.8 | 866 (19.7) | 238 (12.5) | 19.6 | |
| Malignancy | 2251 (24.3) | 1510 (21.3) | 7.2 | 1216 (27.6) | 557 (29.2) | 3.7 | |
| COPD | 2804 (30.3) | 2108 (29.8) | 1.2 | 1667 (37.8) | 668 (35.1) | 5.7 | |
| Chronic liver disease | 4074 (44.1) | 2578 (36.4) | 15.6 | 2256 (51.2) | 810 (42.5) | 17.4 | |
| Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy | 185 (2.0) | 77 (1.1) | 7.4 | 126 (2.9) | 17 (0.9) | 14.5 | |
| Osteoporosis | 3341 (36.1) | 2469 (34.9) | 2.6 | 1589 (36.1) | 685 (36.0) | 0.2 | |
| Sleep apnoea | 57 (0.6) | 26 (0.4) | 3.6 | 42 (1.0) | 8 (0.4) | 6.5 | |
| Concurrent drugs:† | |||||||
| Oral anticoagulant | 9246 (100.0) | 7077 (100.0) | <0.1 | 4407 (100.0) | 1905 (100.0) | <0.1 | |
| Warfarin | 7312 (79.1) | 5881 (83.1) | 10.3 | 3638 (82.6) | 1644 (86.3) | 10.4 | |
| NOAC | 2471 (26.7) | 1594 (22.5) | 9.8 | 993 (22.5) | 361 (19.0) | 8.8 | |
| β blocker | 4498 (48.6) | 5148 (72.7) | 50.9 | 2026 (46.0) | 1333 (70.0) | 50.1 | |
| Non-DHP CCB | 1191 (12.9) | 1117 (15.8) | 8.3 | 568 (12.9) | 260 (13.6) | 2.2 | |
| Digoxin | 675 (7.3) | 2401 (33.9) | 69.7 | 431 (9.8) | 526 (27.6) | 47.0 | |
| Aspirin | 2033 (22.0) | 1311 (18.5) | 8.6 | 982 (22.3) | 351 (18.4) | 9.6 | |
| P2Y12 inhibitor | 873 (9.4) | 602 (8.5) | 3.3 | 406 (9.2) | 157 (8.2) | 3.4 | |
| Statin | 4191 (45.3) | 3090 (43.7) | 3.4 | 2022 (45.9) | 862 (45.2) | 1.3 | |
| DHP CCB | 2080 (22.5) | 869 (12.3) | 27.2 | 817 (18.5) | 301 (15.8) | 7.3 | |
| ACEI/ARB | 5063 (54.8) | 3747 (52.9) | 3.6 | 2266 (51.4) | 1020 (53.5) | 4.3 | |
| Loop/thiazide diuretics | 3626 (39.2) | 3779 (53.4) | 28.7 | 1910 (43.3) | 936 (49.1) | 11.6 | |
| K+ sparing diuretics | 1255 (13.6) | 1719 (24.3) | 27.6 | 715 (16.2) | 386 (20.3) | 10.5 | |
| α blocker | 193 (2.1) | 124 (1.8) | 2.4 | 97 (2.2) | 45 (2.4) | 1.1 | |
ACEI=angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor; AF=atrial fibrillation; ARB=angiotensin receptor blocker; ASD=absolute standardised difference; CCB=calcium channel blockers; COPD=chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DHP=dihydropyridine; NOAC=non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant.
*
Modified HAS-BLED=hypertension, 1 point; age >65 years, 1 point; history of stroke, 1 point; history of bleeding or predisposition, 1 point; liable international normalised ratio, not assessed; ethanol or drug abuse, 1 point; drug predisposing to bleeding, 1 point.
†
Defined as a prescription fill of >90 days within the 180 day after the first prescription for rhythm or rate control drugs or an ablation procedure for atrial fibrillation.