• V V Thomas, A Lenin, T K George, M Thenmozhi, R Iyadurai, and T D Sudarsanam.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
• J Postgrad Med. 2024 Apr 1; 70 (2): 778377-83.

BackgroundThe prescribing practice of newer oral anticoagulants (NOACs) has not been adequately studied in the Indian scenario.AimsWe aimed to describe the prescribing practices of oral anticoagulants, the patient profile and medical comorbidities among patients admitted in a general medicine unit.MethodsIn this retrospective study of the 2742 patients prescribed vitamin- K antagonists (VKAs), during the study period, 150 cases were randomly taken for analysis to match the 105 NOACs cases. Their demographic details, clinical characteristics and treatment details were analyzed.ResultsMore than 95% of anticoagulants prescribed were VKAs. The prescription of anticoagulants was more common in men (median age 63 years) for prescription of NOACs and 52 years for VKAs. Dabigatran (60.9%) and warfarin (81.3%) were the most prescribed drugs in their respective classes. The most common indication was for cardiovascular diseases with atrial fibrillation (32%). Diabetes and hypertension were the most common comorbidities in patients prescribed oral anticoagulants with a larger proportion of patients with heart failure being prescribed VKAs ( P < 0.01). Patients in the NOACs group had a higher HAS-BLED high-risk score (33.3% vs. 17.3%; P = 0.002). Logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with co-morbidities of congestive heart failure were more likely to be prescribed VKAs while diabetics were more likely to receive NOACs.ConclusionsVKAs were the most prescribed anticoagulants; congestive heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension were the commonest comorbidities; and atrial fibrillation was the commonest indication. Patients with a high HAS-BLED score were prescribed NOACs more often.Copyright © 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Journal of Postgraduate Medicine.

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