Clinical value of a tool for managing oral anticoagulation in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in primary health care. Randomized clinical trial

The management of atrial fibrillation is complex and requires improvement at strategic points, such as in the control of patients treated with vitamin K antagonists. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact on health outcomes of a nonvalvular atrial fibrillation decision support tool based on visualization of the time in therapeutic range in primary care. The present randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2018 with a 1-year follow-up in 325 primary care centers in Catalonia. In the intervention centers, the decision support tool was installed to control the time in therapeutic range of patients treated with vitamin K antagonists. The tool was not visualized in the control group. In total, 44 556 patients were studied. The intervention protected against admission for stroke (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.70; 95% confidence interval [95%CI], 0.55-0.88). The number needed to treat was 3502 (95%CI, 3305-3725) while the number of admissions for stroke avoided was 12.63 (95%CI, 11.88-13.38). The intervention also protected against mortality (adjusted OR, 0.78; 95%CI, 0.67-0.90), with a number needed to treat of 13 687 (95%CI, 10 789-18 714) and number of deaths avoided of 3.23 (95%CI, 2.36-4.10). The decision support tool was associated with slight reductions in the numbers of admissions for ischemic stroke and mortality. Although the follow-up time was short and the effect of the intervention was small, the results are valuable and could improve implementation of the tool. This clinical trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03367325). La fibrilación auricular es una enfermedad de abordaje complejo que tiene como punto estratégico el control de los pacientes tratados con antagonistas de la vitamina K. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar el impacto, en resultados de salud, de una herramienta para la toma de decisiones en fibrilación auricular no valvular, que mostrara el tiempo en rango terapéutico en la historia clínica informatizada de atención primaria. Ensayo clínico aleatorizado llevado a cabo durante 2018 en 325 centros de atención primaria de Cataluña con 1 año de seguimiento. En los centros de intervención se instaló la herramienta para controlar el tiempo en rango terapéutico de los pacientes tratados con antagonistas de la vitamina K, y no se visualizó en el grupo control. Se evaluó a 44.556 pacientes. La intervención resultó protectora del ingreso por ictus (odds ratio [OR] ajustada: 0,70; intervalo de confianza del 95% [IC95%]