Dose Selection of Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants in Korean Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. In the Asian population, patients with AF have been shown to have increased risks of ischemic stroke and all-cause death compared to patients without AF by 3.34and 2.61-fold, respectively. AF guidelines recommend oral anticoagulation (OAC) therapy in AF patients with a CHA2DS2VASc score of ≥1 for men and ≥2 for women with non-valvular AF. After the introduction of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) as a treatment for AF, their use has become widespread. Compared to warfarin, NOACs showed comparable efficacy for the prevention of thromboembolic events and superior safety in terms of bleeding complications, especially intracranial hemorrhage. Physicians should keep in mind considerations for optimal OAC therapy to achieve the best outcome. Furthermore, appropriate dose selection in order to achieve the best clinical outcome is an important issue in clinical practice. All NOACs do not have the same rules for dose reduction, and dose reduction of NOACs is primarily recommended according to the dose reduction criteria investigated in pivotal randomized control trials. In this review, we focus on the optimal dose of NOAC and summarize current guidelines and evidence for appropriate dosing of NOACs.