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Clinical Decision Support Tool for Improving the Adequacy of Anticoagulant Therapy in Non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation

A New Clinical Decision Support Tool for Improving the Adequacy of Anticoagulant Therapy and Reduce Stroke Incidence in Non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation: a Randomized Clinical Trial in Primary Care

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03367325
Acronym
NACOs
Enrollment
63001
Registered
2017-12-08
Start date
2017-12-15
Completion date
2019-12-15
Last updated
2018-12-21

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anticoagulants, Atrial Fibrillation, Clinical Decision Support Systems

Keywords

non-valvular atrial fibrillation, time in therapeutic range, primary care

Brief summary

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and increases the risk of ischemic stroke 4-5-fold. The prevention of complications is based on oral or antiplatelet anticoagulant treatment. The first choice of anticoagulant therapy (AT) is the vitamin K antagonist (VKA). Contraindication to VKA or poor control of the International Normalized Ratio leads to the administration of direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs). There is a trend towards inadequate AT in non-valvular AF (NVAF) patients. The Objective of the study is evaluate the impact of the implementation of a decision support tool linked to digital clinical history on the adequacy of AT, the incidence of complications and the mortality in patients with NVAF in primary health care of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS).

Interventions

DEVICECDS-NVAF

The CDS-NVAF is intended for patients diagnosed with NVAF and treated with VKA. This tool calculates the time in the therapeutic range (TTR) using the Rosendaal method considering the last International Normalized Ratio (INR) data. The INR data are found in the clinical history of NVAF patients. The CDS-NVAF will be activated when the physician introduces the last INR value. At this time the TTR will be calculated automatically. If the TTR value is \< 65%, a pop up screen with a warning text will open suggesting a change to DOAC therapy. The physician can decide whether to change or not the previous prescription. If the TTR value in \> 65% the pop up screen will not appear. The TTR value will remain registered on the screen of the follow up of oral anticoagulant use and can be consulted in future queries. The diffusion of the CDS-NVAF will be made by an announcement on the first day of the intervention when the health care professional opens the electronic clinical history.

Sponsors

Institut Català de la Salut
CollaboratorOTHER
Department of Health, Generalitat de Catalunya
CollaboratorOTHER_GOV
Fundacio d'Investigacio en Atencio Primaria Jordi Gol i Gurina
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

(all criteria must be met): * Patients diagnosed with NVAF one year prior to the implementation of the computerized tool; * Patients receiving anticoagulant treatment with DOACs or VKAs; * Patients followed in primary care (with at least 6 INR controls during the year prior to the intervention).

Exclusion criteria

* Patients with INR control in the reference hospital; * patients with valvular AF (mitral stenosis); * patients with a prosthetic heart valve; * change to another primary care center.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence rate of Thromboembolic eventsTwo years after the beginning of the interventionThromboembolic events: acute myocardial infarction or angina, ischemic stroke, peripheral embolism or transient ischemic attack (TIA)
Incidence rate of Hemorrhagic eventsTwo years after the beginning of the interventionHemorrhagic events: intracranial hemorrhage and gastrointestinal hemorrhage
Incidence rate of mortalityTwo years after the beginning of the interventionAll-cause mortality
Adequacy of anticoagulant treatmentone year after the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the adequacy of the anticoagulant treatment, taking into account if an adequate change has occurred or not. 0 = No adequate change (when an inadequate change has been produced or when an inadequate treatment has been maintained) 1 = adequate change (when an adequate change has been produced or when an adequate treatment has been maintained) The adequacy of the anticoagulant therapy in patients with NVAF will be based on the fulfillment of the criteria of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality of Spain, 2016\* \* Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality. Criteria and recommendations for the use of direct oral anticoagulants (ACOD) in the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. 2016. available in: https://www.aemps.gob.es/medicamentosUsoHumano/informesPublicos/docs/criterios-anticoagulantes-orales.pdf

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Primary Care Center (PCC) characteristics: Standard of Health Care Quality (SHCQ)at the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the Standard of Health Care Quality of each PCC
Primary Care Center (PCC) characteristics: Standard of Quality of Pharmaceutical Prescription (SQPP)at the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the Standard of Quality of Pharmaceutical Prescription of each PCC
Characteristics of the professional: ageat the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the age of the professional
Characteristics of the professional: sexat the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the sex of the professional
Characteristics of the professional: PCCat the beginning of the interventionThis variable identifies the PCC of the professional
Characteristics of the professional: type of work contractat the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the type of work contract of the professional
Sociodemographic characteristics of the patientsat the beginning of the interventionage, sex, primary care area assigned, physician assigned
Characteristics of the professional: Standard of Quality of Pharmaceutical Prescription (SQPP)at the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the Standard of Quality of Pharmaceutical Prescription of the professional
Treatment by direct-acting oral antagonistsat the beginning of the intervention and one year after the beginning of the interventionDirect-acting oral antagonists: dabigatran, apixaban or rivaroxaban
Treatment by Vitamin K antagonistsat the beginning of the intervention and one year after the beginning of the interventionVitamin K antagonists: acenocoumarol or warfarin
Treatment by heparinat the beginning of the intervention and one year after the beginning of the interventionpresence / absence of heparin treatment
Thromboembolic risk CHA2DS2-VASC (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age 75 years or older, diabetes mellitus, previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age 65 to 74 years, female) scoreat the beginning of the intervention and one year after the beginning of the interventionThe score indicates the risk of a patient with non-valvular atrial fibrillation of suffering a stroke in one year. The score goes from 0 (absence of risk) to 10 (greater risk).
Bleeding risk HAS-BLED (Hypertension, Abnormal liver/renal function, Stroke, Bleeding history or predisposition, Labile INR, Elderly (>65 years), and Drugs/alcohol) scoreat the beginning of the intervention and one year after the beginning of the interventionThe score allows the calculation of the risk of bleeding in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation receiving oral anticoagulant treatment based on the risk factors associated with the probability of bleeding. 0 = low risk; 1 = intermediate risk; 2 = intermediate risk; ≥3 = high risk
Characteristics of the professional: Standard of Health Care Quality (SHCQ)at the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the Standard of Health Care Quality of the professional
Primary Care Center (PCC) characteristics: teaching centerat the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses if a PCC is a teaching center or not
Primary Care Center (PCC) characteristics: urban/ruralat the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses if a PCC is located at urban o rural area
Primary Care Center (PCC) characteristics: socioeconomic deprivation index (MEDEA)at the beginning of the interventionThis variable encompasses the socioeconomic deprivation index (MEDEA) of each PCC

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 25, 2026