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Risk of falls and major bleeds in patients on oral anticoagulation therapy

Donze, J. and Clair, C. and Hug, B. and Rodondi, N. and Waeber, G. and Cornuz, J. and Aujesky, D.. (2012) Risk of falls and major bleeds in patients on oral anticoagulation therapy. The American journal of medicine, 125 (8). pp. 773-778.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A6205212

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The risk of falls is the most commonly cited reason for not providing oral anticoagulation, although the risk of bleeding associated with falls on oral anticoagulants is still debated. We aimed to evaluate whether patients on oral anticoagulation with high falls risk have an increased risk of major bleeding. METHODS: We prospectively studied consecutive adult medical patients who were discharged on oral anticoagulants. The outcome was the time to a first major bleed within a 12-month follow-up period adjusted for age, sex, alcohol abuse, number of drugs, concomitant treatment with antiplatelet agents, and history of stroke or transient ischemic attack. RESULTS: Among the 515 enrolled patients, 35 patients had a first major bleed during follow-up (incidence rate: 7.5 per 100 patient-years). Overall, 308 patients (59.8%) were at high risk of falls, and these patients had a nonsignificantly higher crude incidence rate of major bleeding than patients at low risk of falls (8.0 vs 6.8 per 100 patient-years, P=.64). In multivariate analysis, a high falls risk was not statistically significantly associated with the risk of a major bleed (hazard ratio 1.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.54-2.21). Overall, only 3 major bleeds occurred directly after a fall (incidence rate: 0.6 per 100 patient-years). CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective cohort, patients on oral anticoagulants at high risk of falls did not have a significantly increased risk of major bleeds. These findings suggest that being at risk of falls is not a valid reason to avoid oral anticoagulants in medical patients.
Faculties and Departments:03 Faculty of Medicine > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Stationäre innere Medizin (Schifferli)
03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Klinische Forschung > Bereich Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Ehemalige Einheiten Medizinische Fächer (Klinik) > Stationäre innere Medizin (Schifferli)
UniBasel Contributors:Hug, Balthasar L.
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:Excerpta Medica
ISSN:0002-9343
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
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Last Modified:14 Mar 2019 15:38
Deposited On:23 May 2014 08:34

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