title: Oral anticoagulant in patients surviving myocardial infarction. A new approach to old data.
abstract: Evidence of the preventive efficiency of long term oral anticoagulant (OA) therapy after myocardial infarction (MI) is still controversial. In an attempt to reappraise this problem, a study has been undertaken using the odds ratio method in which the data from 7 published studies of long term OA therapy after MI were pooled. The studies selected met predefined quality standards. The combination of the studies provided a sample of 1284 patients in the OA group versus 1013 in the reference group. The total mortality rates were 20.73% in the control group and 17.99% in the OA group; the difference is significant at p = 0.05. For recurrent MI only 5 trials could be pooled. The reinfarction rates were 13.81% in the control group versus 10.25% in the OA group, and again the difference is significant. The interpretation of such reassessed data is subject to certain limitations.
mesh_terms: D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants