Direct oral anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation patients aged 75 years or older: Efficacy and safety balance

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common heart rhythm disorders in the population. Researchers revealed a direct relationship between their incidence and a patient's age long ago. One of the most challenging issues of clinical practice in patients with AF is anticoagulant therapy used in the so-called very elderly patients aged 75 years and older when age itself is a risk factor for developing both thromboembolic and hemorrhagic events due to anticoagulants, regardless of the mechanism of action of the latter. However, scientific data regarding the treatment and prevention of thromboembolic events in elderly and senile patients with AF are very scarce and often uninformative. The data from the EURObservational Research Programme-Atrial Fibrillation Registry Pilot Phase (EORP-AF Pilot) and the randomized clinical studies RELY, ROCKET AF, ARISTOTLE, and AVERROES were analyzed to identify the most safe and most effective anticoagulant for elderly patients (over 75 years). Relying on the analyses of literature data, the authors propose an algorithm based on clinical characteristics for choosing the anticoagulant for patients older than 75 years.