Inappropriate Use of Oral Antithrombotic Combinations in an Outpatient Setting and Associated Risks: A French Nationwide Cohort Study.

With the increase in prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, multimorbidity, and medical progress, oral antithrombotic (AT) combinations are increasingly prescribed. The aims of this study were to estimate the incidence of oral AT combinations, their appropriateness (defined as indications compliant with guidelines), and the related risk of major bleeding (i.e., leading to hospitalization) or death, among new users. We conducted a 5-year historical cohort study, using the French national healthcare database, including all individuals ≥ 45 years old with a first delivery of oral ATs between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2017. The cumulative incidence of oral AT combinations was estimated with the Fine and Gray method, taking into account the competitive risk of death. We compared the cumulative incidence of major bleeding according to the type of oral AT treatment initiated at study entry (monotherapy or oral AT combinations). During the study period, 22,220 individuals were included (mean (SD) age 68 (12) years). The cumulative incidence of oral AT combinations at 5 years was 27.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 26.8-28.9). Overall, 64% of any oral AT combinations did not comply with guidelines. The cumulative incidence of major bleeding and death in the whole cohort at 5 years was 4.1% (95% CI 3.7-4.6) and 10.8% (95% CI 10.1-11.6), respectively. Risk of major bleeding increased among individuals with oral AT combinations versus oral AT monotherapy at study entry (subdistribution hazard ratio sHR: 2.16 (1.01-4.63)); with no difference in terms of death. The use of oral AT combinations among oral AT users is frequent, often inappropriately prescribed, and associated with an increased risk of major bleeding.

Trajectories of Adherence to Low-Dose Aspirin Treatment Among the French Population.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that adherence to low-dose aspirin (LDA) is suboptimal. However, these studies were based on an average measure of adherence during follow-up, ignoring its dynamic process over time. We described the trajectories of adherence to LDA treatment among the French population over 3 years of follow-up. METHODS: We identified a cohort of 11 793 new LDA users, aged ≥50 years in 2010, by using the French national health-care database. Patients included had at least 3 years of history in the database before study entry to exclude prevalent aspirin users and to assess baseline comorbidities. They were followed from the first date of LDA supply (the index date) until the first date among death, exit from the database, or 3 years after the index date. Adherence to LDA was assessed every 3 months by using the proportion of days covered (PDC) and dichotomized with a cutoff of PDC of 0.8. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify trajectories of LDA adherence. Predictors of LDA adherence trajectory membership were identified by multinomial logistics regression. RESULTS: We identified 4 trajectories of adherence among new LDA users: the not-adherents (4737 [40.2%]), the delayed not-adherents (gradual decrease in adherence probability, 1601 [13.6%]), the delayed adherents (gradual increase in adherence probability, 1137 [9.6%]), and the persistent adherents (4318 [36.6%]). The probability of belonging to the not-adherent group was increased with female sex, low socioeconomic status, and polymedication and was reduced with a secondary indication for LDA use, such as diabetes, hypertension, and dementia, at least 4 consultations in the previous year, or 1 hospitalization or a cardiologist consultation in the 3 months before the index date. CONCLUSION: This study provides a dynamic picture of adherence behaviors among new LDA users and underlines the presence of critical trajectories that intervention could target to improve adherence.

Reduced risk of cancer among low-dose aspirin users: Data from French health care databases.

PURPOSE: The effect of chronic use of low-dose aspirin (LDA) on overall cancer is still unclear owing to many controversial results and methodological limitations of studies. This study aimed to assess the effect of LDA use on overall cancer incidence among the French population. METHODS: We conducted a 10-year historical cohort study using the permanent sample of the French national health care databases: the Système National des Données de Santé (SNDS). We used data for 111 025 individuals aged 50 to 80 years at study entry (January 1, 2006) without prevalent cancer or LDA use. Individuals were followed until the earliest of cancer incidence, death from any cause, exit from the database, or end of the study on December 31, 2015. We estimated the effect of LDA on cancer incidence by using a dynamic model to account for the competing risk of death in the presence of time-dependent exposure and risk factors. RESULTS: LDA use was associated with reduced 10-year risk of cancer (subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR] 0.81 [95% CI 0.77-0.86]). The SHRs were 0.88 [0.82-0.94] for men and 0.93 [0.85-1.02] for women. Moreover, each additional year of LDA use was associated with reduced 10-year risk of cancer (SHR 0.93 [0.92-0.95]). LDA use was also associated with reduced 10-year risk of death (SHR 0.86 [0.82-0.91]). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first population-based study to demonstrate a protective effect of LDA on overall cancer incidence and to account for the main methodological issues of previous observational studies.

Evaluation of algorithms to identify incident cancer cases by using French health administrative databases.

PURPOSE: Administrative databases are increasingly being used in cancer observational studies. Identifying incident cancer in these databases is crucial. This study aimed to develop algorithms to estimate cancer incidence by using health administrative databases and to examine the accuracy of the algorithms in terms of national cancer incidence rates estimated from registries. METHODS: We identified a cohort of 463 033 participants on 1 January 2012 in the Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires (EGB; a representative sample of the French healthcare insurance system). The EGB contains data on long-term chronic disease (LTD) status, reimbursed outpatient treatments and procedures, and hospitalizations (including discharge diagnoses, and costly medical procedures and drugs). After excluding cases of prevalent cancer, we applied 15 algorithms to estimate the cancer incidence rates separately for men and women in 2012 and compared them to the national cancer incidence rates estimated from French registries by indirect age and sex standardization. RESULTS: The most accurate algorithm for men combined information from LTD status, outpatient anticancer drugs, radiotherapy sessions and primary or related discharge diagnosis of cancer, although it underestimated the cancer incidence (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) 0.85 [0.80-0.90]). For women, the best algorithm used the same definition of the algorithm for men but restricted hospital discharge to only primary or related diagnosis with an additional inpatient procedure or drug reimbursement related to cancer and gave comparable estimates to those from registries (SIR 1.00 [0.94-1.06]). CONCLUSION: The algorithms proposed could be used for cancer incidence monitoring and for future etiological cancer studies involving French healthcare databases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.