IMR Press / RCM / Volume 25 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2505164
Open Access Original Research
Clinical Implications of Polypharmacy for Patients with New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation Based on Real-World Data: Observations from the Korea National Health Insurance Service Data
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1 Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Severance Cardiovascular Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 03722 Seoul, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Cardiology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, 13496 Seongnam, Republic of Korea
*Correspondence: cby6908@yuhs.ac (Boyoung Joung)
These authors contributed equally.
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2024, 25(5), 164; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2505164
Submitted: 12 November 2023 | Revised: 28 December 2023 | Accepted: 17 January 2024 | Published: 11 May 2024
(This article belongs to the Section Lifestyle and Risk Factors)
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Polypharmacy is commonly observed in atrial fibrillation (AF) and is associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Our study aimed to elucidate the polypharmacy prevalence, its associated risk factors, and its relationship with adverse clinical outcomes using a ‘real-world’ database. Methods: This study included 451,368 subjects without prior history of AF (median age, 54 [interquartile range, 48.0–63.0] years; 207,748 [46.0%] female) from the Korea National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening (NHIS-HealS) database between 2002 and 2013. All concomitant medications prescribed were collected, and the intake of five or more concomitant drugs was defined as polypharmacy. During the follow-up, all-cause death, major bleeding events, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke, and admission due to worsened heart failure were recorded. Results: Based on up to 7.7 (6.8–8.3) years of follow-up and 768,306 person-years, there were 12,241 cases of new-onset AF identified. Among patients with new-onset AF (40.0% females, median age 63.0 [54.0–70.0] years), the polypharmacy prevalence was 30.9% (3784). For newly diagnosed AF, factors, such as advanced age (with each increase of 10 years, odds ratios (OR) 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26–1.40), hypertension (OR 4.00, 95% CI 3.62–4.43), diabetes mellitus (OR 3.25, 95% CI 2.86–3.70), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (OR 3.00, 95% CI 2.51–3.57), TIA/ischemic stroke (OR 2.36, 95% CI 2.03–2.73), dementia history (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.06–4.98), end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.38–2.82), and heart failure (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.69–2.26), were found to be independently correlated with the incidence of polypharmacy. Polypharmacy significantly increased the incidence and risk of major bleeding (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.26, 95% CI 1.12–1.41). The study observed a statistically significant increase in the incidence of all-cause mortality, however, the risk for all-cause mortality elevated but did not show significance (aHR 1.11, 95% CI 0.99–1.24). The risk of stroke and admission for heart failure did not change with polypharmacy. Conclusions: In our investigation using data from a nationwide database, polypharmacy was widespread in new-onset AF population and was related to major bleeding events. However, polypharmacy does not serve as an independent risk factor for adverse outcomes, with exception of major bleeding event. For AF patients, ensuring tailored medication for comorbidities as well as reducing polypharmacy are essential considerations.

Keywords
arial fibrillation
real-world data
polypharmacy
all-cause mortality
major bleeding
stroke
heart failure admission
Funding
HC19C0130/Ministry of Health & Welfare
Figures
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