• Louis M Kwong, Laura E Happe, Ruslan Horblyuk, and Eileen Farrelly.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA.
• J Arthroplasty. 2008 Sep 1; 23 (6 Suppl 1): 25-30.

AbstractThe use of outpatient anticoagulation after major orthopedic surgery with oral or injectable anticoagulants is recommended by national guidelines. A retrospective analysis of medical and pharmacy claims data using the PharMetrics Patient-Centric Database Inc, Watertown, Mass, was conducted. After adjusting for covariates, patients receiving warfarin were approximately 30% more likely to experience a venous thromboembolism than those receiving an injectable anticoagulant (6.3% vs 4.8%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.5) by 30 days. The data at 90 days showed similar results. No significant differences in the incidence of major bleeding events between the cohorts were observed (incidence of major bleed <0.4%). These findings support the randomized controlled studies and expand the data to the real-world perspective. Clinicians should evaluate these data alongside the clinical trial data when selecting the safest and most effective prophylactic therapy for postdischarge anticoagulation.

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