Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Significant Mitral Stenosis-a Preliminary Meta-Analysis.

INTRODUCTION

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and concomitant moderate-to-severe mitral stenosis (MS) are listed as a contraindicated population to direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) because of the traditional tenet of high stroke risk, despite scarce evidence. With accumulating data, we sought to conduct a systematic meta-analysis to preliminarily explore the efficacy and safety of DOAC versus warfarin in patients with AF and concomitant significant MS.

METHODS

We searched the Medline, Embase databases, and the Cochrane Library (assessed October 10th, 2022) for eligible studies. Risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were synthesized in Stata 16.1 (StataCorp).

RESULTS

In random-effects meta-analyses, DOACs demonstrated a similar risk of stroke or systemic embolism (RR 0.51; 95% CI 0.09-2.96), all-cause death (RR 0.81; 95% CI 0.35-1.87), major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.24-1.39), and silent cerebral ischemia (RR 1.01; 95% CI 0.64-1.58) when compared with warfarin.

CONCLUSIONS

DOACs were similar to warfarin in the efficacy and safety profiles in patients with AF and concomitant significant MS. Future evidence is expected from other large trials.