Self-Monitoring of Oral Anticoagulation: Safe and Effective

This approach has been slow to catch on in the U.S.

Using portable testing devices, patients who take warfarin now can monitor their international normalized ratios (INRs) at home and either can report them to their clinicians for dose adjustment (self-testing) or use an algorithm to adjust their own doses (self-management). In this meta-analysis, U.K. researchers combined individual patient data from 11 randomized trials in which self-monitoring was compared with conventional care in 6417 adult patients. Maximum follow-up was 5 years.

Compared with patients who received conventional care, those assigned to self-monitoring had significantly fewer thromboembolic events (hazard ratio, 0.51) and had nonsignificant trends toward fewer hemorrhagic events (HR, 0.88) and deaths (HR, 0.82). Risk for …

Reviewing Author

Bruce Soloway, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsNew RoAR News (http://www.newroarnews.org)

Bruce Soloway, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsNew RoAR News (http://www.newroarnews.org)