Impact of a patient decision aid on care among patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: a cluster randomized trial.
BACKGROUND
Too few patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) receive appropriate antithrombotic therapy. We tested the short-term (primary outcome) and long-term (secondary outcome) effect of a patient decision aid on the appropriateness of antithrombotic therapy among patients with NVAF.


METHODS
We conducted a cluster randomized trial with blinded outcome assessment involving 434 NVAF patients from 102 community-based primary care practices. Patients in the intervention group received a self-administered booklet and audiotape decision aid tailored to their personal stroke risk profile. Patients in the control group received usual care. The primary outcome measure was change in antithrombotic therapy at 3 months. Appropriateness of therapy was defined using the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) recommendations.


RESULTS
The mean patient age was 72 years, and the median duration of NVAF was 5 years. In the control group, there was a 3% decrease over 3 months in the number of patients receiving therapy appropriate to their risk of stroke (40% [85/215] at baseline v. 37% [79/215] at 3 months). In the intervention group, the number of patients receiving therapy appropriate to their stroke risk increased by 9% (32% [69/219] at baseline v. 41% [89/219] at 3 months). Although the proportion of patients whose therapy met the ACCP treatment recommendations did not differ between study arms at baseline (p = 0.11) or 3 months (p = 0.44), there was a 12% absolute improvement in the number of patients receiving appropriate care in the intervention group compared with the control group at 3 months (p = 0.03). The beneficial effect of the decision aid did not persist (p = 0.44 for differences between study arms after 12 months).


CONCLUSIONS
There was short-term improvement in the appropriateness of antithrombotic care among patients with NVAF who were exposed to a decision aid, but the improvement did not persist.
McAlister
Finlay A
FA
Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta. Finlay.McAlister@ualberta.ca
Man-Son-Hing
Malcolm
M
Straus
Sharon E
SE
Ghali
William A
WA
Anderson
David
D
Majumdar
Sumit R
SR
Gibson
Paul
P
Cox
Jafna L
JL
Fradette
Miriam
M
D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy*; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D005260:Female; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000517:prevention & control; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents