The American Journal of Medicine

Antiplatelet Prophylaxis vs Anticoagulation

Figure 7 is from a meta-analysis that compared the effect of warfarin versus aspirin.[5]  From the results of this nicely done study it can be seen that basically all of the trials found a clear benefit for warfarin compared to antiplatelet (or aspirin) therapy for reduction of risk of stroke.

In aggregate, analysis of all 11 trials of this meta-analysis shows, with a very tight confidence intervals, that the results overwhelmingly favor anticoagulation over antiplatelet therapy for reduction of stroke risk in patients with AFib.    

Hylek EM. Am J Med 2014; 00.

References

[5]

Aguilar MI, Hart R, Pearce LA. Oral anticoagulants versus antiplatelet therapy for preventing stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation and no history of stroke or transient ischemic attack. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007;(3):CD006186.