Review criteria
The inclusion criteria were: i) patients with AF who were ≥ 18 years;
ii) investigating the effects of OACs on the incidence of dementia; iii)
reporting the outcomes as HR, RR, or OR, with 95%CIs; iv) RCTs or
observational studies.
The exclusion criteria were: i) patients with the history of dementia or
moderate to severe cognitive dysfunction; ii) only crude or unadjusted
HR, RR, or OR; iii) cross-sectional studies; iv) following types of
articles: conference abstracts, editorials, letters, expert opinions,
case reports, case series, or reviews.