Figure legend
Figure 1. The structure of discrete event simulation (DES)
model. DES model structure was built based on a priori knowledge
about disease progression and possible outcomes of AF patients. The
model was designed to predict treatment outcomes conditional on
patients’ baseline characteristics. Patients at different stroke and
major bleeding risk would trace different probabilistic pathways in the
model based on their treatment assignment (rivaroxaban or warfarin). DES
could keep track of patient-level covariates and account for the changes
in patients’ stroke and bleeding risk factors over time. Therefore, the
stroke and major bleeding risk could be modified as the patient got
older age or greater comorbidity burden.