Risk of Bleeding With Dabigatran in Atrial Fibrillation

This is a new “real-world” study comparing bleeding risk in Medicare patients treated with dabigatran (n=1302) and warfarin (n=8102) for newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation. The use of dabigatran was associated with a significantly higher risk of any, major, and gastrointestinal bleeding when compared with warfarin. On the contrary, intracraneal bleeding was significantly less common among patients on dabigatran.