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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

ANTICOAGULANT MONITORING, DOSING MANAGED BY PATIENTS AT HOME MAY BE SAFE

MedPage Today (12/1, Phend) reports, "Anticoagulant monitoring and dosing managed by patients at home is safe and decreases clotting risk," according to a meta-analysis published online in The Lancet. Investigators found that "major bleeding event and mortality rates actually tended to favor self-management over usual care, although not significantly so (hazard ratios 0.88 and 0.82, both P=0.18)." Meanwhile, "thromboembolic events were nearly halved by self-monitoring (HR 0.51, P=0.01), with even greater benefits in patients younger than 55 and in those with mechanical heart valves."

HealthDay (12/1, Reinberg) reports, "Among older patients, who are at risk for major bleeding, self-monitoring reduced the risk of dying and didn't increase the risk of complications.

POSTED BY: Steven Almany M.D.

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