Researchers analyzed 1,579,456 hospital admissions of atrial fibrillation patients in the United States. They investigated how many patients received medications, called oral anticoagulants, which prevent blood clots and stroke. Patients included in the study were at least 40 years old and stayed in the hospital for at least one day.
At the time of discharge, only 46 percent of atrial fibrillation inpatients received an oral anticoagulant. These medications’ use was just below 50 percent across several subgroups in the study, including women, diabetic patients and those with a history of stroke.
Sean Pokorney, MD, MBA, a study co-investigator and an electrophysiology fellow at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., said that barriers to oral anticoagulant use include a lack of understanding about atrial fibrillation, stroke risk, fear of medication use as well as a view that oral anticoagulant use is an outpatient issue, rather than an inpatient issue.
“This study identified a gap in care and is a critical first step in raising questions about how we can optimize the [oral anticoagulant] decision-making process that atrial fibrillation patients and their providers are engaging in during a hospital stay and at the point of discharge,” Dr. Pokorney said in a statement.
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