Evaluation of effect of frailty on warfarin compliance among older patients

Year 2021, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 192 - 197, 28.03.2021

Mevlut Kiyak , Alpaslan Tanoğlu , Mustafa Behçet Demirbaş , Imantai Shauyet Sema Uçak Basat

https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.865648

Abstract

Aim: Warfarin has a narrow therapeutic index. We aimed to evaluate the effect of frailty on compliance to warfarin pharmacotherapy and the attainment of international normalised ratio (INR) goals in patients aged over 65 years receiving warfarin.

Method: We recruited 473 elderly subjects aged 65 years and over. Indications for the administration of warfarin and INR values were recorded. All patients were assessed according to the Clinical Frailty Scale of the Canadian Health and Aging Study. Whether or not the target of INR values and the degree of frailty were compared.

Results: Of the 473 patients aged 65 years and over, 402 patients were assigned to the non-frail group and 71 patients were assigned to the frail group. When patients were compared according to the attainment of target INR values, a negative correlation between frailty and numerical INR values was observed.

Conclusion: It can be said that the presence of frailty negatively affects reaching the target INR values in patients over 65 years of age using warfarin. If patients in this population are indicated for warfarin use, it is necessary to be sure that INR monitoring will be done well.

Keywords

Frailty, Geriatric population, International normalised ratio, Warfarin

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