Inappropriate non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants prescriptions: be cautious with dose reductions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are prescribed to patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) to reduce the risk of stroke. Prescribing the correct dose warrants careful consideration of the prevailing dose criteria that differ per NOAC. Electronic systems are useful to intercept prescriptions that are incorrect based on simple 'primary' criteria, for example dosing frequency and drug-drug interactions with concomitant medication. However, these systems do not take into account patient characteristics such as age, renal function or weight, which are crucial elements to determine the NOAC dose.

Methods

Our goal was to determine the appropriateness of all prescriptions, as compared with the product labelling approved by the European Medicines Agency,

SUBMITTER: Jacobs MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6639841 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature