Body Mass Index Influence on the Clinical Outcomes for Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation Patients Admitted to a Hospital Treated with Direct Oral Anticoagulants: A Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Considering that the current fixed dose of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) might have insufficient anticoagulation effect for overweight patients, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness and safety of anticoagulation between dabigatran and rivaroxaban in different body mass index (BMI) population. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 2402 DOAC anticoagulated patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent catheter ablation (1290 dabigatran, 53.7% and 1112 rivaroxaban, 46.3%) between January 2017 and December 2018. Patients were distributed based on the BMI into nonobese (1362, BMI <25 kg/m(2)), preobese (521, BMI 25.0–29.9 kg/m(2)), class I obese (344, BMI 30.0–34.9 kg/m(2)) and class II+ obese (175, BMI ≥35.0 kg/m(2)). We collected information regarding clinical features, laboratory data, bleeding complications and systemic embolic events from the electrical medical records system during 12 months. RESULTS: The incidence of systemic embolism and stroke complications was higher in the class II+ obese group (P=0.001 and P=0.003). The incidence of bleeding complications and the levels of anticoagulation parameters under the bleeding threshold were similar among the four groups (P>0.05). Cumulative Kaplan–Meier analysis illustrated that rivaroxaban-treated patients who belonged to higher BMI subgroups were more likely to experience shorter time to thrombosis (TTT) (12-month TTT rates of 0.5% for nonobese vs 1.7% for class I obese patients, HR=3.716, P=0.005; 12-month TTT rates of 0.5%, for nonobese vs 4.0% for class II+ obese patients, HR=6.843, P=0.001). However, no statistical significant difference in terms of the time to bleeding complications and the time to cumulative events among the four groups was observed. By multivariate analysis, a higher BMI value (BMI ≥25 kg/m(2)) (P=0.019; OR=2.094, 95%CI: 1.129–3.883) was an independent predictor for thrombosis in patients treated with dabigatran or rivaroxaban. Positive linear relationship was observed between BMI levels and occurrence rate of thrombosis and bleeding in under anticoagulation patients with NVAF (R(2)=0.451 and R(2)=0.383, respectively). CONCLUSION: The fixed dose of 15 mg rivaroxaban might carry a risk of under exposure, which would lead to an increase of thromboembolic complications in patients with high BMI. Therefore, rivaroxaban dose increase was suggested for obese patients. Use of DOACs appears to have considerable safety in obese patients.