Some of the risk factors for anticoagulation-related bleeding are also indications for the use of anticoagulants in AF patients .
Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is associated with an increased stroke risk that may be reduced by therapeutic anticoagulation .
However , anticoagulation is associated with an increased risk of bleeding that in some patients may outweigh the benefits in reducing the risk of stroke .
Stroke Incidence in Copenhagen, 1976–1988
Background and Purpose Temporal trends in stroke incidence in Denmark have not been previously reported . The Copenhagen City Heart Study is a prospect i ve study based on a r and omly selected sample of an urban population of , initially , 19,698 participants followed since 1976 . Over a period of 12 years , we studied three important aspects of stroke incidence in 848 identified cases : temporal trends , dependence on age and sex , and comparison of responders and nonresponders . Methods The participants were invited to two health examinations at 5-year intervals . The participants who attended at least one of the two examinations are termed responders and those who attended none nonresponders . The cases of first-ever stroke were collected from responders , the National Patient Register , and the National Register of Deaths and were verified by study of hospital records and death certificates . Results For responders aged 35–64 years and ≥65 years , there were no significant changes in the weighted rates in four consecutive 3-year periods . There was a tendency toward decreasing rates among younger women , but not in older women or men . The age- and sex-adjusted rates per 1,000 ( based on the Danish population in 1982 ) in responders in the entire 12-year follow-up period were 1.61 in women , 2.67 in men , and 2.14 in both sexes combined . Stroke incidence rates increased exponentially with age in both sexes , with rates in men generally twice those in women , even in the ≥75 years of age group . Age-adjusted rates were higher in nonresponders than in responders . For women , this ratio was 1.7 ; for men , 1.1 . Conclusions The stroke incidence in Copenhagen is relatively high and has shown no decreasing tendency over the period 1976–1988
Some of the risk factors for anticoagulation-related bleeding are also indications for the use of anticoagulants in AF patients .
Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is associated with an increased stroke risk that may be reduced by therapeutic anticoagulation .
However , anticoagulation is associated with an increased risk of bleeding that in some patients may outweigh the benefits in reducing the risk of stroke .