Meta-analysis of efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants compared with warfarin in Japanese patients undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.

OBJECTIVES This meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for perioperative anticoagulation of atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation (CA) in Japanese patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). METHODS PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles published up to June 30, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS Nineteen studies with a total of 6827 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The experimental group received dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, or edoxaban; the control group received warfarin. The safety endpoints were bleeding complications; the efficacy endpoints were thromboembolic complications. Results were as follows: Patients with NOACs had a lower risk of overall bleeding complications (OR = 0.69, 95% CI (0.54, 0.87), P = 0.002), including major bleeding complications (OR = 0.52, 95% CI (0.32, 0.84), P = 0.007) and minor bleeding complications (OR = 0.73, 95% CI (0.56, 0.94), P = 0.02). There was no significant difference in thromboembolic complications between NOACs and warfarin after CA (OR = 0.39, 95% CI (0.14, 1.10), P = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS In Japanese NVAF patients undergoing CA, NOACs have similar effects to warfarin in the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism. Moreover, NOACs were associated with a lower incidence of bleeding complications.