BACKGROUND

This meta-analysis was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for stroke prevention in real-world patients with diabetes and nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) through observational studies.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched up to August 2020 for eligible studies. Outputs were presented as risk ratios (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by using a random-effect model.

RESULTS

Seven observational studies involving 249,794 diabetic NVAF patients were selected. Compared with VKAs, the use of DOACs was associated with significantly reduced risks of stroke (RR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.45-0.70; < 0.00001), ischemic stroke (RR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.48-0.78; < 0.0001), stroke or systemic embolism (SSE) (RR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.68-0.95; = 0.01), myocardial infarction (RR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.55-0.88; = 0.002), major bleeding (RR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.63-0.90; = 0.002), intracranial hemorrhage (RR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.44-0.56; < 0.00001), and major gastrointestinal bleeding (RR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.62-0.95; = 0.02), and a borderline significant decrease in major adverse cardiac events (RR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.75-1.00; = 0.05) in NVAF patients with diabetes.

CONCLUSION

For patients with NVAF and diabetes in real-world clinical settings, DOACs showed superior efficacy and safety profile over VKAs and significantly reduced risks of stroke, ischemic stroke, SSE, myocardial infarction, major bleeding, intracranial hemorrhage, and major gastrointestinal bleeding.