• Jonathan B Yuval, Karry J Felix, Jonathan Demma, Haytem Awissat, Asaf Kedar, Daniel J Weiss, Alon J Pikarsky, Ora Paltiel, Irena Hamdi-Levi, Yosef Kalish, and Miklosh Bala.
• Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Kiryat Hadassah, POB 12000, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2022 Feb 1; 48 (1): 497-505.

PurposeOral anticoagulants (AC) and antiplatelet (AP) agents are increasingly prescribed to prevent and treat acute and chronic thrombotic conditions. The direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), a newer class of AC, raise concerns in the trauma setting. Our study aims to compare the mortality rates and other outcomes among adult trauma patients based on pre-admission AC/AP status.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of a prospectively collected database of trauma patients previously on DOAC, warfarin, aspirin or clopidogrel. A matched control group of trauma patients not receiving AC/AP was used for comparison. Our primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality according to antithrombotic medication class. Secondary endpoints included length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) admission, need for blood transfusion, and discharge to a dependent setting. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted.ResultsThere were 996 exposed patients and 234 controls, with no major clinically significant difference among study groups in terms of gender, injury site, injury severity, mechanism, and comorbidities. The mortality rates were 2.14% (control, 5/234), 2.88% (DOAC, 3/104), 3.34% (aspirin, 17/509), 7.63% (warfarin, 18/236), 9% (clopidogrel, 8/89), and 13.79% (aspirin + clopidogrel, 8/58) (p < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, there was no difference regarding mortality between DOAC and reference groups. Blood transfusion was more likely in patients receiving warfarin or AP than those prescribed DOAC.ConclusionThere was no evidence of increased mortality or blood transfusion requirement among trauma patients on DOAC, including head trauma patients. Further studies on head trauma and specific subgroups of DOAC are recommended.© 2020. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

16 keywords...

hide…