Data Collection and Definitions
Trained clinical research coordinators reviewed and collected relevant clinical information, including patient characteristics, laboratory data, risk of ischemic stroke (CHADS2 score), and major bleeding (HAS-BLED score) at baseline and relevant medications directly from medical charts at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years of follow-up. Definitions of the baseline characteristics have been previously described.14 The CHADS2score was developed to estimate the stroke risk in patients with NVAF,15 and the HAS-BLED score was developed to predict major bleeding in patients receiving anticoagulation therapy.16