Key clinical point: Patients with atrial fibrillation who are treated with oral anticoagulants and then suffer from lower GI bleeding have a higher risk of colorectal cancer.

Major finding: ll age groups had a higher risk of colorectal cancer after lower GI bleeding, compared with patients without bleeding, especially patients aged 65 or younger (risk ratio, 24.2 95% confidence interval, 14.5-40.4).

Study details: A nationwide retrospective study of 125,418 Danish patients with AF.

Disclosures: Two of the authors are employees at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, respectively. Six additional authors reported receiving grants, speaker honoraria and consulting fees from various pharmaceutical companies. The remaining authors reported no conflicts of interest.