Should We Recommend Oral Anticoagulation Therapy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Coronary Artery Stenting With a High HAS-BLED Bleeding Risk Score?

Background—Recent European guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation recommend oral anticoagulation (OAC) in patients with CHA2DS2-VASc score (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes, history of previous stroke, vascular disease, age 65–74 years, and sex category [female]) ≥1. The HAS-BLED score (Hypertension, Abnormal renal/liver function, Stroke, Bleeding history or predisposition, Labile international normalized ratio, Elderly [>65 years], Drugs/alcohol concomitantly) has been suggested to assess bleeding risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (score ≥3 indicates high risk of bleeding). Despite the guidelines, this approach has never been tested in a cohort of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation. Methods and Results—We studied 590 consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention/stenting and CHA2DS2-VASC score >1 (ie, OAC recommended). We compared patients...