Anticoagulant therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation: the experience of the Centers of Surveillance. Study group of the "Italian Study on Complications of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy" (ISCOAT)
Palareti, G.
Annali Italiani di Medicina Interna Organo Ufficiale Della Societa Italiana di Medicina Interna 11(Suppl 2): 18s-20s
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0393-9340 PMID: 9004816 Document Number: 463813
The present study evaluated the anticoagulant course of 580 patients (21% of the total number of patients, 317 males, half of them aged > 70 years) with atrial fibrillation (AF) enrolled in the ISCOAT study. During the 469 patient-years of follow-up 35 bleeding (7.6%; 2 fatal, 8 major) and 17 thrombotic events (3.6%) occurred. Bleeding was more frequent when AF was associated with other cardiovascular diseases (9.8%) and occurred even if the anticoagulation level was low (9% when INR was < 2), probably due to the presence of individual risk factors. As expected, thrombotic events were also more frequent when INR level was < 2. We conclude that in patients with AF the recommended therapeutic range seems to be INR 2-3, since this range proved to be safe and more effective than lower anticoagulation levels.