[Italian Study on Atrial Fibrillation (SIFA): status report]

Non-valvular atrial fibrillation increases the risk of stroke by a factor of 5 and is present in about 15% of patients with acute stroke. Its prevalence in the general population increases from 0.5% at 50-59 years to > 10% at 80-99 years. In patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation the risk of stroke increases with age, blood pressure and other evidence of cardiac disease. In addition, non-valvular atrial fibrillation is associated with a greater early mortality and a greater risk of recurrent stroke. The anticoagulant therapy to prevent early recurrent embolism is likewise controversial. Anticoagulant therapy appears to reduce this risk, but there is the danger of accentuating hemorrhagic infarction, especially in patients with large strokes. The effectiveness of antiplatelet drugs in patients with cardioembolic stroke is also not defined. The Studio Italiano Fibrillazione Atriale (SIFA) is a multicentric, randomized trial to assess the efficacy and safety of anticoagulant, warfarin, versus antiplatelet treatment, indobufen, a reversible inhibitor of platelet cyclo-oxygenase, in the prevention of recurrent cerebral ischemia and other systemic embolisms in non-valvular atrial fibrillation patients. Patients of both sexes, aged > 30 years with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, who have presented in the last 2 weeks an ischemic cerebral event (transitory ischemic attack or non-disabling stroke) and who have given their informed consent, were eligible. Patients with hemorrhagical diseases or contraindications to anticoagulant therapy were excluded. Patients were randomly given either indobufen (400 mg/die) or oral warfarin to an international normalized ratio of 2.0-3.5. The primary end-points were: recurrence of cerebral ischemia, systemic embolisms, intracranial or fatal hemorrhage, acute myocardial infarction, vascular death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)