Cardiovascular, Bleeding, and Mortality Risks in Elderly Medicare Patients Treated With Dabigatran or Warfarin for Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation

Background— The comparative safety of dabigatran versus warfarin for treatment of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in general practice settings has not been established. Methods and Results— We formed new-user cohorts of propensity score–matched elderly patients enrolled in Medicare who initiated dabigatran or warfarin for treatment of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation between October 2010 and December 2012. Among 134 414 patients with 37 587...