Mochalina N, et al. – The researchers undertook this study to evaluate time trends in rates of ischemic stroke in patients with incident atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosed between 2011 and 2013. In AF patients, the increased uptake of oral anticoagulants in the community was correlated with decreased incidence of ischemic stroke.

• The researchers performed this population-based retrospective registry study of all 11,500 adults diagnosed with incident non-valvular atrial fibrillation between 2011–2013 in primary and secondary care and receiving oral anticoagulants (n = 4847), aspirin (n = 2850) or no treatment (n = 3766) in Skane County, Sweden.
• The rate of ischemic stroke within 365 days after AF diagnosis was the primary outcome.

• Between 2011 and 2013, cumulative incidence of ischemic stroke decreased from 2.87% (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.37-3.45%) to 1.93% (95% CI 1.54-2.41%), while the uptake of oral anticoagulants increased from 36.6% to 48.4% (regression coefficient -0.08; 95% CI, -0.09 to -0.07, p < 0.001).