Table 2.

Thromboembolism and Major Bleeding Stratified by Long‐Term Adherence Trajectories

	Consistent adherence			Early discontinuation			Gradual decline
	Total	First 12 mo	After 12 mo	Total	First 12 mo	After 12 mo	Total	First 12 mo	After 12 mo
Thromboembolic events*
Total patient, N	16 111	16 111	8077	2008	2008	1339	801	801	793
Total person‐years (PY)	21 259	11 943	9316	3305	1809	1496	1874	801	1073
Total events, N	299	136	83	59	18	25	18	…	13
Total event rates per 100 PY	1.41	1.14	0.89	1.78	1.00	1.67	0.96	…	1.21
Ischemic stroke, N	279	130	77	55	18	21	17	…	12
Ischemic stroke, rates	1.31	1.10	0.83	1.66	1.00	1.40	0.91	…	1.12
Systemic embolism, N	24	9	6	4	…	4	2	…	2
Systemic embolism, rates	0.11	0.08	0.06	0.12	…	0.27	0.11	…	0.19
Major bleed events †
Total patient, N	16 167	16 167	8102	1957	1957	1309	816	816	806
Total PY	21 323	11 983	9340	3212	1764	1448	1904	816	1088
Total events, N	312	142	80	20	7	9	10	1	7
Total event rates per 100 PY	1.46	1.19	0.86	0.62	0.40	0.62	0.53	0.12	0.64
ICH, N	23	11	7	3	…	2	2	1	1
ICH, rates	0.11	0.09	0.07	0.09	…	0.14	0.11	0.12	0.09
GI bleed, N	271	119	72	16	6	7	8	…	6
GI bleed, rates	1.27	0.99	0.77	0.50	0.34	0.48	0.42	…	0.55
Other bleed, N	29	17	3	1	1	…	…	…	…
Other bleed, rates	0.14	0.14	0.03	0.03	0.06	…	…	…	…

… no observation. GI indicates gastrointestinal; and ICH, intracranial hemorrhage.

^*Patients were followed from the index date (first DOAC prescription) until the thromboembolic event, death, disenrollment from the health plan, switching from DOAC therapy to warfarin, or study end date (December 31, 2018), whichever occurred first. The percentages of switch to warfarin were 8.6%, 6.3%, and 3.8% for consistent adherence, early discontinuation, and gradual decline groups, respectively.

^† Major bleeding event was used as a censoring event instead of thromboembolic event.