The Canadian Community Utilization of Stroke Prevention Study in Atrial Fibrillation in the Emergency Department (C-CUSP ED)

Abstract

Study objective: Lack of oral anticoagulation prescription in the emergency department (ED) has been identified as a care gap in atrial fibrillation patients. This study seeks to determine whether the use of a tool kit for emergency physicians with a follow-up community-based atrial fibrillation clinic resulted in greater oral anticoagulation prescription at ED discharge than usual care.

Methods: This was a before-after study in 5 Canadian EDs in 3 cities. Patients who presented to the ED with atrial fibrillation were eligible for inclusion. The before phase (1) was retrospective; 2 after phases (2 and 3) were prospective: phase 2 used an oral anticoagulation prescription tool for emergency physicians and patient education materials, whereas phase 3 used the same prescription tool, patient materials, atrial fibrillation educational session, and follow-up in an atrial fibrillation clinic. Each phase was 1 year long. The primary outcome was the rate of new oral anticoagulation prescription at ED discharge for patients who were oral anticoagulation eligible and not receiving oral anticoagulation at presentation.

Results: A total of 631 patients were included. Mean age was 69 years (SD 14 years), 47.4% were women, and 69.6% of patients had a CHADS₂ score greater than or equal to 1. The rate of new oral anticoagulation prescription in phase 1 was 15.8% compared with 54.1% and 47.2%, in phases 2 and 3, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, the odds ratio for new oral anticoagulation prescription was 8.03 (95% confidence interval 3.52 to 18.29) for phase 3 versus 1. The 6-month rate of oral anticoagulation use was numerically but not significantly higher in phase 3 compared with phase 2 (71.6% versus 79.4%; adjusted odds ratio 2.30; 95% confidence interval 0.89 to 5.96). The rate of major bleeding at 6 months was 0%, 0.8%, and 1% in phases 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Conclusion: An oral anticoagulation prescription tool was associated with an increase in new oral anticoagulation prescription in the ED, irrespective of whether an atrial fibrillation clinic follow-up was scheduled. The use of an atrial fibrillation clinic was associated with a trend to a higher rate of oral anticoagulation at 6-month follow-up.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02358655.