Knowledge on chronic oral anticoagulation of patients followed up in a specialized outpatient clinic.

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess patients’ knowledge on anticoagulant therapy in an outpatient clinic. A questionnaire with ten questions with closed answers was applied. Correct answers to about 80% of the questions were considered satisfactory. Out of the 120 evaluated patients, 77 (64.1%) showed satisfactory knowledge, with an average of 7.8±1.7 correct answers. As to the International Normalized Ratio (INR), 69.4% of the sample was beyond therapeutic range, and 42.5% had hemorrhages in the last 6 months. Factors such as education level, income, hemorrhagic event, anticoagulation time, and gender did not show statistically significant difference. There is an obvious need for a systematic follow-up by health care professionals, using educational measures, to detect the difficulties faced by patients, maintaining an optimal INR.