Health-related quality of life in patients receiving oral anti-coagulants: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Patients receiving long-term anticoagulants were reported with varied health-related quality of life (HrQoL). We assessed HrQoL in patients receiving either warfarin or dabigatran from a tertiary care hospital.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out following consent from patients on oral anticoagulants. Demographics, prothrombin time international normalized ratio (PT-INR), and drug-related details were collected. A validated Arabic version of the perception of anticoagulant treatment questionnaire (PACT-2) was used to assess HrQoL under three dimensions: convenience; burden of disease; and treatment satisfaction.

Results

One-hundred and fifty patients were recruited. Overall good quality of life was observed as indicated by the average score of 80.3 in the warfarin group and, moderate in the dabigatran (average score of 68). Highly adherent and elderly patients receiving warfarin were significantly more likely to have good quality of life. Therapeutic PT-INR and high medication adherence were the primary domains significantly associated with good quality of life amongst patients with warfarin.

Conclusion

We observed good quality of life in patients receiving warfarin particularly those in the categories of elderly, with therapeutic PT-INR and high medication adherence. Small sample size with dabigatran precludes any firm conclusions.

KEYWORDS:

• Warfarin
• dabigatran
• quality of life
• atrial fibrillation

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Acknowledgments

We wholeheartedly thank the patients who provided consent for participating in this study and Ms. Fatima, Ms. Fadheela and other staff nurses in the anti-coagulation clinic for their support during the conduct of this research study. We also thank the Research Technical Support Team for their Ethics approval for carrying out this study and Mapi Research Trust for providing permission to translate the PACT questionnaire.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This research study is supported by intra-mural research from College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University with the grant number [G-E021-PI-11/18].