Quality of oral anticoagulant therapy.
Three hundred and eighty-four patients were studied for up to 1 year while on continuous oral anticoagulant therapy and the quality of control of therapy was assessed. Two hundred and thirty-five patients were on continuous therapy throughout the year (long-term group), 73 were treated for a period between 3 and 12 months (intermediate group) and 76 were treated for less than 3 months (short-term group). The therapeutic objective was to achieve and maintain British Ratio (BR) between 2.0 and 4.0. Nineteen percent of the results in the long-term group, 26.6% in the intermediate group and 41.1% in the short-term group fell outside this range. Among the long-term group only 25.1% and in the intermediate group 12.3% had all their results within the control range. It is concluded that the quality of therapeutic control of oral anticoagulant therapy needs to be improved.
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013997:Time Factors; D014859:Warfarin / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000925:Anticoagulants; D014859:Warfarin