Chokesuwattanaskul, Anthipa

AbstractIntroductionDirect oral anticoagulants (DOACs) become the recommended treatment over vitamin K antagonists (VKA) in patients with non‐valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). However, their effectiveness in reducing cognitive impairment and dementia compared to VKA remains unclear.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted on Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database. Randomized controlled trials, cohort, or case–control study that assessed incident dementia between AF patients who received DOAC compared to VKA were selected. Relevant study characteristics and the number of incident dementia diagnosis or hazard ratios (HRs) for incident dementia and each dementia subtypes were extracted. Random‐effects model was used to perform meta‐analysis. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were used to estimate effect sizes for continuous data.ResultsTwelve cohort studies comprising 1 451 069 individuals were included. The incidence of dementia was lower in AF patients prescribed DOACs compared to VKA (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.83–0.93, I 2 = 61.2%). A lower incident dementia in DOACs group relative to VKA was significantly observed in those less than 75 years of age (< 65 years, HR 0.83 (95% CI 0.72–0.97, I 2 = 0%); 65–74 years, HR 0.86 (95% CI 0.81–0.92, I 2 = 55.4%); and ≥ 75 years, HR 1.07 (95% CI 0.74–1.55, I 2 = 92.5%)) and for the subgroup of patients with vascular dementia (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.824–0.997, I 2 = 0%).ConclusionsThis meta‐analysis reveals a reduction in incidence of dementia in AF patients prescribed DOACs compared to VKA, particularly in those less than 75 years old and in the vascular dementia subtype.

Background Abnormal circadian blood pressure ( BP ) variations during sleep, specifically the non‐dipping (<10% fall in nocturnal BP ) and reverse‐dipping patterns (rise in nocturnal BP ), have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and target organ damage. However, the relationship between abnormal sleep BP variations and cerebral small vessel disease markers is poorly established. This study aims to assess the association between non‐dipping and reverse‐dipping BP patterns with markers of silent cerebral small vessel disease. Methods and Results MEDLINE , Embase, and Cochrane Databases were searched from inception through November 2019. Studies that reported the odds ratios (ORs) for cerebral small vessel disease markers in patients with non‐dipping or reverse‐dipping BP patterns were included. Effect estimates from the individual studies were extracted and combined using the random‐effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. Twelve observational studies composed of 3497 patients were included in this analysis. The reverse‐dipping compared with normal dipping BP pattern was associated with a higher prevalence of white matter hyperintensity with a pooled adjusted OR of 2.00 (95% CI , 1.13–2.37; I 2 =36%). Non‐dipping BP pattern compared with normal dipping BP pattern was associated with higher prevalence of white matter hyperintensity and asymptomatic lacunar infarction, with pooled OR s of 1.38 (95% CI , 0.95–2.02; I 2 =52%) and 2.33 (95% CI , 1.30–4.18; I 2 =73%), respectively. Limiting to only studies with confounder‐adjusted analysis resulted in a pooled OR of 1.38 (95% CI , 0.95–2.02; I 2 =52%) for white matter hyperintensity and 1.44 (95% CI , 0.97–2.13; I 2 =0%) for asymptomatic lacunar infarction. Conclusions The non‐dipping and reverse‐dipping BP patterns are associated with neuroimaging cerebral small vessel disease markers.