RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Clinical utility of dabigatran in United Arab Emirates
JF Saudi Medical Journal
JO Saudi Med J
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 1290
OP 1298
DO 10.15537/smj.2015.11.12154
VO 36
IS 11
A1 Abdulla Shehab
A1 Asim A. Elnour
A1 Adel Sadik
A1 Mahmoud Abu Mandil
A1 Ali AlShamsi
A1 Aesha Al Suwaidi
A1 AkshayaSrikanth Bhagavathula
A1 Pinar Erkekoglu
A1 Farah Hamad
A1 Saif K. Al Nuaimi
YR 2015
UL http://smj.org.sa/content/36/11/1290.abstract
AB Objectives: To provide early data regarding clinical utility of dabigatran in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: This was an ethics approved retrospective cross sectional study. We retrieved a total of 76 patients who were using dabigatran from September to December 2014 in the Cardiology Clinic at Al-Ain Hospital, Al-Ain, UAE. The primary analysis was designed to test the frequency of bleeding events (rate) with dabigatran 75, 110, and 150 mg.Results: The mean age ± standard deviation of cohort was 67.9 ± 1.5 years (range; 29-98 years), composed of males (52.6%) with mean age of 66.3 ± 1.7 years, and females (47.4%) with mean age of 69.6 ± 1.1 years. The highest age group was those between 61-80 years (60.5%). Most comprised the age strata of ≤75 years (73.7%). The main indication for dabigatran use was atrial fibrillation. The rate of bleeding with dabigatran was 18/76 (23.7%), and melena was the leading cause of bleeding 8/76 (10.7%). The hospitalization rate was 67.1%, dabigatran withdrawal rate was 0.01%, and mortality rate was 6.5%. The cohort had exhibited incidences of minor bleeding with one fatal major bleeding, high co-morbidities, admission, and readmission, which was not directly linked to dabigatran. We did not identify any relation of death due to dabigatran.Conclusion: Dabigatran is a suitable alternative to warfarin obviating the need for repetitive international normalized ratio monitoring, however, it may need plasma drug monitoring.