Comparative effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban with other oral anticoagulants in older adults with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: population-based analysis in response to updated Beers Criteria

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been raised regarding the updated Beers Criteria that recommended avoiding rivaroxaban use for long-term treatment of older adults with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). OBJECTIVES: We sought to compare the effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban with oral anticoagulants in older adults with nonvalvular AF. METHODS: We used an administrative healthcare database and included adults with AF aged ≥65 years who were new users of rivaroxaban or the comparators. We created 3 pairwise comparisons: rivaroxaban vs warfarin; rivaroxaban vs dabigatran; and rivaroxaban vs apixaban. Study outcomes included stroke or systemic embolism (effectiveness) and gastrointestinal or intracranial bleeding (safety). In the propensity score-matched sample, we used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. RESULTS: In the matched cohorts, use of rivaroxaban (vs warfarin) increased risk of bleeding (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03-1.23) with no difference in ischemic stroke or systemic embolism (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.79-1.02); use of rivaroxaban (vs dabigatran) increased risk of bleeding (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.03-1.35) with no difference in ischemic stroke and systemic embolism (HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83-1.22); and use of rivaroxaban (vs apixaban) increased risk of stroke and systemic embolism (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.08-1.40) and bleeding (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.45-1.76). CONCLUSION: In this comparative effectiveness and safety study of older adults with nonvalvular AF, use of rivaroxaban was associated with a significantly increased risk of ischemic stroke and systemic embolism compared with apixaban and bleeding compared with warfarin, dabigatran, and apixaban. Our findings may inform anticoagulant selection in older adults with nonvalvular AF.