Development and Validation of a Predictive Model for Intracranial Haemorrhage in Patients on Direct Oral

Yuanyuan Liu1,2, Linjie Li1, Jingge Li1

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300052, China.

Insights

Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) increase intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) risk. A new XGBoost model using six factors accurately predicts ICH in DOAC patients, improving risk assessment for better anticoagulation therapy.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Neurology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) is a serious complication for patients on Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs).
  • Current risk scores do not adequately predict ICH risk in this patient population.
  • There is a need for improved risk stratification tools for DOAC users.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate a predictive model for ICH risk in patients treated with DOACs.
  • To identify key predictors of ICH in this cohort.
  • To compare the performance of the new model against existing DOAC risk scores.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 24,794 DOAC-treated patients from Tianjin, China, was analyzed.
  • The cohort was randomly split for model development (80%) and validation (20%).
  • Predictors were selected using forward stepwise selection, LASSO, and XGBoost; model performance was assessed via AUC and NRI.

Main Results:

  • The XGBoost model identified six independent predictors: history of hemorrhagic stroke, peripheral artery disease, venous thromboembolism, hypertension, age, and LDL cholesterol.
  • The model demonstrated moderate discrimination (AUC: 0.68) and outperformed existing DOAC scores (ΔAUC = 0.063, P = 0.003; NRI = 0.374, P < 0.001).
  • Risk categories effectively stratified ICH risk (low: 0.26%, moderate: 0.74%, high: 5.51%) with consistent validation performance.

Conclusions:

  • A reliable XGBoost-based predictive model for ICH risk was developed and validated in a real-world Chinese DOAC-treated population.
  • The model, incorporating six key risk factors, provides a valuable tool for individualized risk assessment.
  • This model can aid in optimizing oral anticoagulation therapy and patient management.
Abstract