Risk of thrombotic events and other complications in anticoagulant users infected with SARS‑CoV‑2: an observational cohort study in primary health care in SIDIAP (Catalonia, Spain)

COVID-19; Anticoagulants orals; Esdeveniments trombòtics; Atenció primàriaCOVID-19; Oral anticoagulants; Thrombotic events; Primary health careCOVID-19; Anticoagulantes orales; Eventos trombóticos; Atención primariaBackground: The risk of thromboembolic events and COVID-19 complications in anticoagulated patients once hos‑ pitalized has been widely analyzed. We aim to assess these outcomes in primary health care (PHC) patients chronically treated with oral anticoagulants (OAC) in comparison with non-treated. Methods: Cohort study including adults with COVID-19 diagnosis in the PHC records in Catalonia, Spain; from March to June 2020. Patients were matched between exposed and non-exposed to OAC based on age and gender in a 1:2 design. Data source is the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP). Results: We included 311,542 individuals with COVID-19. After propensity score matching, we obtained a cohort of 20,360 people, 10,180 exposed and 10,180 non-exposed to OAC. Their mean age was 79.9 and 52.1% were women. Patients exposed to OAC had a higher frequency of comorbidities than non-exposed. Anticoagulated patients had a higher risk of hospital admission (IRR 1.16, 95% CI 1.03–1.29), and of stroke and pulmonary embolism than nonanticoagulated (IRR 1,80, 95% CI 1.06–3.06). The risk of pneumonia was not diferent between groups (IRR 1.04, 95% CI 0.84–1.30). We found a lower risk of death in patients exposed to OAC (IRR 0.60, 95% CI 0.55–0.65). Conclusions: OAC users in our study had more comorbidities and were older than non-users, well known risks for hospitalization being confrmed with our results. We also found in our study that OAC exposure was not associated to an increased risk in the mortality rate, and it was associated with higher risks of hospital admission and thrombo‑ embolic events, although we cannot assess the efect of the interventions applied during hospital admission on the outcomes studied, as our database is a PHC database

Effectiveness and safety of oral anticoagulants for non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study in primary healthcare in Catalonia

Objectives: Our objective was to analyse effectiveness and safety of oral anticoagulants (OAC) for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.Material and methods: Population-based cohort study including adults initiating oral anticoagulants, either direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) or vitamin K antagonists (VKA), during 2011–2020.Data source: SIDIAP, capturing information from the electronic health records of Primary Health Care in Catalonia, Spain.Study outcomes: stroke, cerebral and gastrointestinal (GI) haemorrhage, assessed by patients’ subgroups according to different clinical characteristics.Results: We included 90,773 patients. Male sex, older than 75, previous event, peripheral artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, or receiving antiplatelets, antidiabetics or proton pump inhibitors (PPI) was associated with higher stroke risk. For DOAC-treated, treatment switch increased stroke risk, while being adherent had a protective effect. Men, antidiabetic treatment or a previous event increased the risk of cerebral bleeding. Receiving direct oral anticoagulants had a protective effect in comparison to vitamin K antagonists. For DOAC-treated, treatment switch increased, and adherence decreased the bleeding risk. Men, people with chronic kidney disease or a previous event posed an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, whereas receiving PPI had a protective effect. For DOAC-treated, switch was associated with a higher bleeding risk.Conclusion: Being men, a previous event and DOAC-switch posed a higher risk for all study outcomes. direct oral anticoagulants had a protective effect against cerebral bleeding in comparison to vitamin K antagonists. Adherence to direct oral anticoagulants resulted in lower risk of stroke and cerebral bleeding. We found no differences in the risk of stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding when we compared direct oral anticoagulants vs. vitamin K antagonists

Sex and gender differences in the use of oral anticoagulants for non-valvular atrial fibrillation: A population-based cohort study in primary health care in Catalonia

Objectives: To describe the sex and gender differences in the treatment initiation and in the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of all patients initiating and oral anticoagulant (OAC), and the sex and gender differences in prescribed doses and adherence and persistence to the treatment of those receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC). Material and methods: Cohort study including patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who initiated OAC in 2011-2020. Data proceed from SIDIAP, Information System for Research in Primary Care, in Catalonia, Spain. Results: 123,250 people initiated OAC, 46.9% women and 53.1% men. Women were older and the clinical characteristics differed between genders. Women had higher risk of stroke than men at baseline, were more frequently underdosed with DOAC and discontinued the DOAC less frequently than men. Conclusion: We described the dose adequacy of patients receiving DOAC, finding a high frequency of underdosing, and significantly higher in women in comparison with men. Adherence was generally high, only with higher levels in women for rivaroxaban. Persistence during the first year of treatment was also high in general, being significantly more persistent women than men in the case of dabigatran and edoxaban. Dose inadequacy, lack of adherence and of persistence can result in less effective and safe treatments. It is necessary to conduct studies analysing sex and gender differences in health and disease

Automatic Estimation of the Most Likely Drug Combination in Electronic Health Records Using the Smooth Algorithm: Development and Validation Study

Electronic health records; Data mining; Drug combinationRegistres sanitaris electrònics; Mineria de dades; Combinació de fàrmacsRegistros electrónicos de salud; Procesamiento de datos; Combinación de fármacosBackground: Since the use of electronic health records (EHRs) in an automated way, pharmacovigilance or pharmacoepidemiology studies have been used to characterize the therapy using different algorithms. Although progress has been made in this area for monotherapy, with combinations of 2 or more drugs the challenge to characterize the treatment increases significantly, and more research is needed. Objective: The goal of the research was to develop and describe a novel algorithm that automatically returns the most likely therapy of one drug or combinations of 2 or more drugs over time. Methods: We used the Information System for Research in Primary Care as our reference EHR platform for the smooth algorithm development. The algorithm was inspired by statistical methods based on moving averages and depends on a parameter Wt, a flexible window that determines the level of smoothing. The effect of Wt was evaluated in a simulation study on the same data set with different window lengths. To understand the algorithm performance in a clinical or pharmacological perspective, we conducted a validation study. We designed 4 pharmacological scenarios and asked 4 independent professionals to compare a traditional method against the smooth algorithm. Data from the simulation and validation studies were then analyzed. Results: The Wt parameter had an impact over the raw data. As we increased the window length, more patient were modified and the number of smoothed patients augmented, although we rarely observed changes of more than 5% of the total data. In the validation study, significant differences were obtained in the performance of the smooth algorithm over the traditional method. These differences were consistent across pharmacological scenarios. Conclusions: The smooth algorithm is an automated approach that standardizes, simplifies, and improves data processing in drug exposition studies using EHRs. This algorithm can be generalized to almost any pharmacological medication and model the drug exposure to facilitate the detection of treatment switches, discontinuations, and terminations throughout the study period

Effectiveness and safety of oral anticoagulants for non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study in primary healthcare in Catalonia

Oral anticoagulants; Atrial fibrillation; Primary healthcareAnticoagulants orals; Fibril·lació auricular; Atenció primària de salutAnticoagulantes orales; Fibrilación auricular; Atención primaria de saludObjectives: Our objective was to analyse effectiveness and safety of oral anticoagulants (OAC) for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Material and methods: Population-based cohort study including adults initiating oral anticoagulants, either direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) or vitamin K antagonists (VKA), during 2011–2020. Data source: SIDIAP, capturing information from the electronic health records of Primary Health Care in Catalonia, Spain. Study outcomes: stroke, cerebral and gastrointestinal (GI) haemorrhage, assessed by patients’ subgroups according to different clinical characteristics. Results: We included 90,773 patients. Male sex, older than 75, previous event, peripheral artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, or receiving antiplatelets, antidiabetics or proton pump inhibitors (PPI) was associated with higher stroke risk. For DOAC-treated, treatment switch increased stroke risk, while being adherent had a protective effect. Men, antidiabetic treatment or a previous event increased the risk of cerebral bleeding. Receiving direct oral anticoagulants had a protective effect in comparison to vitamin K antagonists. For DOAC-treated, treatment switch increased, and adherence decreased the bleeding risk. Men, people with chronic kidney disease or a previous event posed an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, whereas receiving PPI had a protective effect. For DOAC-treated, switch was associated with a higher bleeding risk. Conclusion: Being men, a previous event and DOAC-switch posed a higher risk for all study outcomes. direct oral anticoagulants had a protective effect against cerebral bleeding in comparison to vitamin K antagonists. Adherence to direct oral anticoagulants resulted in lower risk of stroke and cerebral bleeding. We found no differences in the risk of stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding when we compared direct oral anticoagulants vs. vitamin K antagonists

The use and adherence of oral anticoagulants in Primary Health Care in Catalunya, Spain: A real-world data cohort study

Objective: We aimed to describe sociodemographic, comorbidities, co-medication and risk of thromboembolic events and bleeding in patients with NVAF initiating oral anticoagulants (OAC) for stroke prevention, and to estimate adherence and persistence to OAC. Setting: Primary Health Care (PHC) in the Catalan Health Institute (ICS), Catalunya, Spain. Participants: All NVAF adult patients initiating OAC for stroke prevention in August 2013-December 2015. Methods: Population-based cohort study. Persistence was measured in patients initiating OAC in August 2013-December 2014. Data source: SIDIAP, which captures electronic health records from PHC in the (ICS), covering approximately 5.8 million people. Results: 51,690 NVAF patients initiated OAC; 47,197 (91.3%) were naive to OAC and 32,404 (62.7%) initiated acenocoumarol. Mean age was 72.8 years (SD 12.3) and 49.4% were women. Platelet-aggregation inhibitors were taken by 9105 (17.6%) of the patients. Persistence and adherence were estimated up to the end of follow-up. For 22,075 patients, persistence was higher among the non-naive patients [n = 258 (61.7%)] than among the naive [n = 11,502 (53.1%)]. Adherence was estimated for patients initiating DOAC and it was similar in naive and non-naive patients. Among the naive to DOAC treatment, those starting rivaroxaban showed a highest proportion [(n = 360 (80.1%)] of good adherence at implementation (MPR > 80%) while patients starting dabigatran were less adherent [n=203 (47.8%)]. Conclusions: Acenocoumarol was the most frequently prescribed OAC as first therapy in NVAF patients. Non-naive to DOAC showed better persistence than naive. Rivaroxaban showed higher proportion of adherent patients during the implementation phase than apixaban and dabigatran the lowest. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U

Sex and gender differences in the use of oral anticoagulants for non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study in primary health care in Catalonia

Oral anticoagulants; Atrial fibrillation; Gender differencesAnticoagulants orals; Fibril·lació auricular; Diferències de gènereAnticoagulantes orales; Fibrilación auricular; Diferencias de géneroObjectives: To describe the sex and gender differences in the treatment initiation and in the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of all patients initiating an oral anticoagulant (OAC), and the sex and gender differences in prescribed doses and adherence and persistence to the treatment of those receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC). Material and methods: Cohort study including patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who initiated OAC in 2011–2020. Data proceed from SIDIAP, Information System for Research in Primary Care, in Catalonia, Spain. Results: 123,250 people initiated OAC, 46.9% women and 53.1% men. Women were older and the clinical characteristics differed between genders. Women had higher risk of stroke than men at baseline, were more frequently underdosed with DOAC and discontinued the DOAC less frequently than men. Conclusion: We described the dose adequacy of patients receiving DOAC, finding a high frequency of underdosing, and significantly higher in women in comparison with men. Adherence was generally high, only with higher levels in women for rivaroxaban. Persistence during the first year of treatment was also high in general, being significantly more persistent women than men in the case of dabigatran and edoxaban. Dose inadequacy, lack of adherence and of persistence can result in less effective and safe treatments. It is necessary to conduct studies analysing sex and gender differences in health and disease

Lactic acidosis associated with metformin in patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease: study protocol for a multicenter population-based case-control study using health databases.

Background: The use of metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has been associated with lactic acidosis. However, the information available in patients with moderate-severe chronic kidney disease is scarce. Methods: The ALIMAR-C2 study is a case-control study to assess the association between metformin and lactic acidosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and moderate-severe chronic kidney disease. The study will be performed with computerized registered electronic health records from eight Spanish hospitals linked to their corresponding primary care health areas from 2010 to 2016, comprising approximately 22.1 million person-years of follow-up. Logistic regression will be used to assess the crude and adjusted risk of lactic acidosis associated with metformin use overall and stratifying by use and dose categories, and chronic kidney disease stage. The overall case fatality rate of lactic acidosis, as well as the case fatality rate stratified by chronic kidney disease stage, will be calculated. Discussion: The ALIMAR-C2 study will provide useful information about the risk of lactic acidosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with renal impairment using metformin

Neumonías adquiridas en la comunidad en pacientes con enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica tratados con corticoides inhalados u otros broncodilatadores. Estudio PNEUMOCORT

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the risk of pneumonia and/or exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who receive treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (CI), in comparison with those who are not treated with inhaled corticosteroids (NCI). To estimate the risk of pneumonia according to CI dose. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study. SETTING: Primary Healthcare. Institut Catala de la Salut. PARTICIPANTS: Patients >/=45 years-old diagnosed with COPD between 2007 and 2009 in the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP). INTERVENTION: Two cohorts; patients initiating CI and patients initiating bronchodilators after COPD diagnosis. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Demographics, smoking, medical history, pneumonias, exacerbations, vaccinations, and drug therapy. RESULTS: A total of 3,837 patients were included, 58% in the CI and 42% in the NCI group. Higher incidence rates of pneumonia and exacerbations were detected in the CI group compared with the NCI (2.18 vs. 1.37). The risk of pneumonia and severe exacerbations was not significantly different between groups, HR; 1.17 (95% CI; 0.87-1.56) and 1.06 (95% CI; 0.87-1.31), respectively. Patients in the CI group had a higher risk of mild exacerbations, HR; 1.28 (95% CI; 1.10-1.50). Variables associated with a higher risk of pneumonia were age, diabetes, previous pneumonias and bronchitis, very severe COPD, treatment with low doses of beta2-adrenergic or anticholinergic agents, and previous treatment with oral corticosteroids. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences between cohorts in the risk of pneumonia and severe exacerbations. The risk of mild exacerbations was higher in the CI group. Pneumonias and severe exacerbations were more frequent in patients with severe COPD and in patients receiving high doses of CI

The use and adherence of oral anticoagulants in Primary Healthcare in Catalunya: a real-world data cohort study

Background The use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) has not been previously assessed in our setting. We aimed to describe sociodemographic, comorbidities, co-medication and risk of thromboembolic events and bleeding in patients with NVAF initiating oral anticoagulants (OAC) for stroke prevention, and to estimate adherence and persistence to OAC. Methods Population-based cohort study including all NVAF adult patients initiating OAC for stroke prevention in August 2013-December 2015. Persistence was measured in patients initiating OAC in August 2013-December 2014. Data source is SIDIAP, which captures electronic health records from Primary Health Care in the Catalan Health Institute, covering approximately 5.8 million people. Results 51,690 NVAF patients initiated OAC; 47,197 (91.3%) were naive to OAC and 32,404 initiated acenocoumarol (62.7%). Mean age was 72.8 years (SD 12.3) and 49.4% were women. Platelet-aggregation inhibitors were taken by 9,105 (17.6%) of the patients. For 22,075 patients, persistence was higher among the non-naive patients [n=258 (61.7%)] than among the naive [n=11,502 (53.1%)]. Adherence was estimated for patients initiating DOAC and was similar in naive and non-naive patients. Among the naive to DOAC treatment, those starting rivaroxaban showed a highest proportion [(n=360 (80.1%)] of good adherence at implementation (MPR>80%) while patients starting dabigatran were less adherent [n= 203 47.8%)]. Conclusions Acenocoumarol was the most frequently prescribed OAC as first therapy in NVAF patients. Non-naive to DOAC showed better persistence than naive. Rivaroxaban showed higher proportion of adherent patients during the implementation phase than apixaban and dabigatran the lowest.Preprin