Impact of renal function on edoxaban antithrombotic therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease: a prespecified analysis of the EPIC-CAD trial.

BACKGROUND

Renal function is a critical factor of ischaemic and bleeding risks in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) receiving antithrombotic therapy.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of renal dysfunction in patients with AF and stable coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing antithrombotic therapy.

METHODS

The Edoxaban Versus Edoxaban With antiPlatelet Agent In Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Chronic Stable Coronary Artery Disease (EPIC-CAD) trial randomised patients to edoxaban monotherapy or dual antithrombotic therapy (edoxaban plus a single antiplatelet agent). In this prespecified analysis, patients were stratified by creatinine clearance into low (<50 mL/min) or high (≥50 mL/min) groups according to edoxaban dose-reduction criteria. The primary endpoint was net adverse clinical events (NACE: death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke, systemic embolism, urgent revascularisation, or major/clinically relevant non-major bleeding) at 12 months.

RESULTS

Of 1,040 randomised patients, 252 (24.2%) had low creatinine clearance; these patients were older and had more comorbidities compared with the 788 patients (75.8%) with high creatinine clearance. Patients with low creatinine clearance experienced higher risks of NACE (hazard ratio [HR] 1.72, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-2.49; p=0.004), ischaemic events (HR 2.70, 95% CI: 1.09-6.70; p=0.032), and bleeding (HR 1.54, 95% CI: 1.01-2.34; p=0.046). At 12 months, edoxaban monotherapy reduced NACE compared with dual therapy in both the low (12.1% vs 21.7%, HR 0.52, 95% CI: 0.28-0.98; p=0.042) and high creatinine clearance groups (5.2% vs 14.5%, HR 0.40, 95% CI: 0.25-0.65; p<0.001), with no interaction (p for interaction=0.53).

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with AF and stable CAD, edoxaban monotherapy led to a lower risk of primary NACE than dual antithrombotic therapy, regardless of renal function. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03718559).