To evaluate the safety and cost of anticoagulation therapy in patients newly initiated on warfarin in two institutions in Singapore. All patients newly started on warfarin between December 2011 and May 2012 were recru...To evaluate the safety and cost of anticoagulation therapy in patients newly initiated on warfarin in two institutions in Singapore. All patients newly started on warfarin between December 2011 and May 2012 were recruited and followed up for a period of 6 months. All hospitalization attributed to complications of warfarin therapy, number of INR （international normalized ratio） greater than 4 and total cost of warfarin therapy were collected and analysed. A total of 321 patients were newly initiated on warfarin for standard indications were recruited. At the end of 6 month period, 8.4% of patients were hospitalized for complication related to warfarin therapy. For patients who had stable INR while on warfarin, this rate was almost 2 times lower （3.8% vs 8.4%）. In our study group, patients started on warfarin as inpatients had higher rates of bleeding （15.1% vs 6.7%） and more 1NRs greater than 4 （0.7 per patient vs 0.11 per patient）. The cost of initating warfarin was USD660 over the first 6 months of therapy. Patients newly initiated on warfarin were at a heightened risk of bleeding complications as compared to patients already stable on warfarin therapy. This also translates to considerable costs of warfarin initiation.展开更多
文摘To evaluate the safety and cost of anticoagulation therapy in patients newly initiated on warfarin in two institutions in Singapore. All patients newly started on warfarin between December 2011 and May 2012 were recruited and followed up for a period of 6 months. All hospitalization attributed to complications of warfarin therapy, number of INR （international normalized ratio） greater than 4 and total cost of warfarin therapy were collected and analysed. A total of 321 patients were newly initiated on warfarin for standard indications were recruited. At the end of 6 month period, 8.4% of patients were hospitalized for complication related to warfarin therapy. For patients who had stable INR while on warfarin, this rate was almost 2 times lower （3.8% vs 8.4%）. In our study group, patients started on warfarin as inpatients had higher rates of bleeding （15.1% vs 6.7%） and more 1NRs greater than 4 （0.7 per patient vs 0.11 per patient）. The cost of initating warfarin was USD660 over the first 6 months of therapy. Patients newly initiated on warfarin were at a heightened risk of bleeding complications as compared to patients already stable on warfarin therapy. This also translates to considerable costs of warfarin initiation.
