Lower incidence of atrial fibrillation in NOAC treated patients without prior AF

Lower incidence of atrial fibrillation in NOAC treated patients without prior AF

We acknowledge the support from the Netherlands Cardiovascular Research Initiative: an initiative with support of the Dutch Heart Foundation, CVON 2014-9: Reappraisal of Atrial Fibrillation: interaction between hyperCoagulability, Electrical remodeling, and Vascular destabilisation in progression of AF (RACE V; ÖE, HJGMC, MR).

Arrhythmia is a condition of the heart where there is an irregular heart beat rhythm. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of this condition and occurs in the upper chambers of the heart (the atria) and causes them to quiver (fibrillate), instead of beating normally. AF is the most common arrhythmia in human beings. In 2010, it was estimated that 33.5 million patients worldwide were affected by this condition. Furthermore, AF is one of the major causes of stroke and sudden death, causing a large healthcare burden.- This research will improve our understanding of AF by possibly showing that the risk of developing AF can be reduced by drugs. This could in turn lead to the development of new drugs, lowering the chance of the occurrence of AF in patients at high risk of developing this arrhythmia, which could in turn prevent stroke and sudden death.
The objective of this research proposal is to elucidate the role of Non-vitamin K antagonist Oral AntiCoagulants (NOACs) in the development of AF. NOACs are drugs which for instance are prescribed to patients suffering from a thrombosis (clotting of the blood in a certain organ). Previous research has shown that these drugs influence several processes in the human body. We suspect they can also lower the chance of developing AF.
To this aim, we will compare patients who have received a NOAC to patients who have received vitamin K antagonists (VKA; antagonist means a drug that dampens down or blocks the normal biological response of the body) or a placebo. We are interested whether patients treated with NOACs develop less often atrial fibrillation as compared to patients receiving VKA or placebo.
We will share our findings by publishing our results. Like explained above, this could lead to the development of new drugs, lowering the chance of the occurence of AF in patients at high risk of developing this arrhythmia, which could in turn prevent stroke and sudden death.

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Medicine: Edoxaban, Condition: Venous Thromboembolism;   Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT);   Pulmonary Embolism (PE);   Thromboembolism;   Venous Thrombosis, Phase: 3, Clinical Study ID: DU-176b-D-U305, Sponsor: Daiichi Sankyo" }]