Inclusion and exclusion criteria
RCTs, post-hoc analyses, or observational (prospective or retrospective cohort) studies focusing on AF patients with polypharmacy who received VKAs or NOACs (dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, or edoxaban) were all enrolled. Included studies need to report quantitative estimates of the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for clinical outcomes among patients.
Criteria for exclusion were as follows: (1) certain publication types (e.g., reviews, comments, case reports, case series, letters, editorials, and meeting abstracts); (2) data was unable to obtain or insufficient; (3) studies did not report the relevant outcomes or classification of polypharmacy. If there were overlapping data among two or more studies, we included the one with the largest sample size.