Direct Oral Anticoagulants versus Vitamin K Antagonists in Individuals Aged 80 Years and Older: An Overview in 2021

Chana Azzoug, Gilles Nuémi, Didier Menu, Emmanuel De Maistre, Mathieu Boulin, Alain Putot and Patrick Manckoundia ()
Additional contact information
Chana Azzoug: “Pôle Personnes Âgées”, Hospital of Champmaillot, University Hospital, 21079 Dijon, France
Gilles Nuémi: Medical Information Department, University Hospital, 21079 Dijon, France
Didier Menu: “Mutualité Sociale Agricole” of Burgundy Franche Comté, 21000 Dijon, France
Emmanuel De Maistre: Haemostasis Unit, University Hospital, 21079 Dijon, France
Mathieu Boulin: Pharmacy Department, University Hospital, 21079 Dijon, France
Alain Putot: Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Pays du Mont Blanc Hospital, 74700 Sallanches, France
Patrick Manckoundia: “Pôle Personnes Âgées”, Hospital of Champmaillot, University Hospital, 21079 Dijon, France

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Two main types of oral anticoagulants are available in France: vitamin K antagonists (VKA) and, more recently, direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC). The benefit–risk profile appears to be favorable for DOAC, which is as effective as VKA but safer (fewer cases of severe and cerebral bleeding). In a study in 2017, we observed that older adults did not seem to receive the same modalities of oral anticoagulants as younger individuals for various reasons. To assess anticoagulation prescribing practices over time, we repeated this cross-sectional study by comparing very old individuals taking DOAC to those taking VKA. Ambulatory individuals aged 80 years and older were included. They were affiliated with the Mutualité Sociale Agricole of Burgundy and were refunded for a medical prescription of oral anticoagulation in March 2021. The demographic characteristics, registered chronic diseases (RCD), number and types of prescribed drugs, and mortality of the DOAC group and the VKA group were compared. A total of 4275 subjects were included in the study: 67.44% (2883) received DOAC and 32.56% (1392) received VKA. The two groups were similar in age. In the DOAC group, there were more women (54.98% vs. 46.98%) ( p < 0.001), fewer RCD (91.47% vs. 93.68%) ( p = 0.014), and lower rates of venous thromboembolism (2.53% vs. 6.75%) ( p < 0.001), severe heart failure (56.50% vs. 68.03%) ( p < 0.001), and severe kidney diseases (1.38% vs. 3.59%) ( p < 0.001), but there were more subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (7.49% vs. 4.31%) ( p = 0.001). Individuals in the DOAC group had fewer prescriptions of furosemide (48.53% vs. 55.75%) ( p < 0.001) and fibrates (2.32% vs. 3.88%) ( p = 0.044). They also had more prescriptions of proton pump inhibitors (43.95% vs. 39.44%) ( p = 0.006) and antirheumatics (1.60% vs. 0.65%) ( p = 0.009) than those in the VKA group. There was no difference in mortality. This study revealed that prescribing practices for DOAC have changed over time.

Keywords: aged 80 and over; anticoagulant; direct oral anticoagulants; vitamin K antagonists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1448/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1448/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1448-:d:1034344

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().