Real-life experience of quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and adherence in patients receiving oral anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation

Introduction: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have shown noninferiority to vitamin K antagonists (VKA) in stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. DOAC treatment may be less demanding than VKA, improving quality of life. To date, there have been no studies of the real-life experience of outpatients receiving anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation in France.

Methods: An observational descriptive real-life epidemiological study used three validated questionnaires (EQ-5D, PACT-Q2, and MMAS-8 French Translation) to assess quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and adherence, respectively, in 200 patients managed on an outpatient basis for atrial fibrillation who were receiving anticoagulation therapy by VKA or DOAC for at least 3 months. Patients were distributed between four groups: primary VKA (P-VKA), switch from VKA to DOAC (S-DOAC), primary DOAC (P-DOAC), and switch from DOAC to VKA (S-VKA).

Results: Two hundred patients responded to the questionnaires: 89, 50, 52, and 9 in the P-VKA, S-DOAC, P-DOAC and S-VKA groups, respectively. Only the first three groups were compared statistically, because of the small size of the S-VKA group. Quality of life and satisfaction were good in all three groups, with no significant difference in quality of life but significantly greater satisfaction with respect to the "convenience" and "satisfaction" dimensions for DOACs (S-DOAC and P-DOAC groups versus P-VKA group; p<0.001, for both dimensions). Adherence did not significantly differ between groups.

Conclusion: The experience of patients under oral anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation managed on an outpatient basis was good, with comparable quality of life under DOACs and VKA, and significantly greater satisfaction under DOACs, without impact on adherence. Taking account of patient preference in "shared decision-making" for the choice of type of anticoagulant could improve the patients' experience of treatment.