title: Clinical utility of dabigatran in United Arab Emirates. A pharmacovigilance study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide early data regarding clinical utility of dabigatran in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
  
  
  METHODS
  This was an ethics approved retrospective cross sectional study. We retrieved a total of 76 patients who were using dabigatran from September to December 2014 in the Cardiology Clinic at Al-Ain Hospital, Al-Ain, UAE. The primary analysis was designed to test the frequency of bleeding events (rate) with dabigatran 75, 110, and 150 mg.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age ± standard deviation of cohort was 67.9 ± 1.5 years (range; 29-98 years), composed of males (52.6%) with mean age of 66.3 ± 1.7 years, and females (47.4%) with mean age of 69.6 ± 1.1 years. The highest age group was those between 61-80 years (60.5%). Most comprised the age strata of ≤75 years (73.7%). The main indication for dabigatran use was atrial fibrillation. The rate of bleeding with dabigatran was 18/76 (23.7%), and melena was the leading cause of bleeding 8/76 (10.7%). The hospitalization rate was 67.1%, dabigatran withdrawal rate was 0.01%, and mortality rate was 6.5%. The cohort had exhibited incidences of minor bleeding with one fatal major bleeding, high co-morbidities, admission, and readmission, which was not directly linked to dabigatran. We did not identify any relation of death due to dabigatran.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dabigatran is a suitable alternative to warfarin obviating the need for repetitive international normalized ratio monitoring, however, it may need plasma drug monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. E-mail. a.shehab@uaeu.ac.ae.
authors.forename: Abdulla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shehab
authors.forename: Asim A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Elnour
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadik
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abu Mandil
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: AlShamsi
authors.forename: Aesha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al Suwaidi
authors.forename: AkshayaSrikanth
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhagavathula
authors.forename: Pinar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Erkekoglu
authors.forename: Farah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hamad
authors.forename: Saif K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Al Nuaimi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000991:Antithrombins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069604:Dabigatran / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014479:United Arab Emirates; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000991:Antithrombins; D000069604:Dabigatran