Anticoagulation Prescribing Patterns in Intensive Care Unit Patients Admitted with Prehospital Direct Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Single Academic Center Experience

Abstract

Objective:To describe the current prescribing practices of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and the associated clinical outcomes, including the incidence of major bleeding episodes and the need for intervention (endoscopic, surgical, or interventional radiology guided). Design:Observational, retrospective chart review. Setting and Participants:Single large academic center study. Participants included patients with critical illness who were admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) at Mayo Clinic from January 1st, 2012, until May 4th, 2018. Adult ICU patients with a DOAC (apixaban, rivaroxaban, dabigatran, or edoxaban) listed as one of the active medications at the time of hospital admission were included. Results:37 249 patients in medical and surgical intensive care units were screened for the study period. After excluding patients who did not qualify, 558 unique encounters were included. The median age was 69 (IQR 59-78) years; most patients were male, white Caucasians, and had a median SOFA score of 4. After excluding the patients who had major bleeding episodes in the first 24 hours, 188 (39%) were continued on the same DOAC therapy, 204 (42%) were discontinued without transitioning to another agent, and 95 (20%) were transitioned to another agent. Finally, 410 (84%) were dismissed on DOAC therapy at the end of hospitalization. The difference in the continuation rate of the same DOAC agent beyond 24 hours, discontinuation without transition to an alternate agent, or discontinuation of DOAC with a transition to an alternate anticoagulation agent was not statistically significant ( P = .60). A total of 52 major bleeding events were identified. Gastrointestinal bleeding was the most common bleeding complication [n (%): 34 (65)], followed by intra-abdominal and peri-procedural bleeding [7 (13.5) and 7 (13.5)]. Thirty-three (65%) patients had a major bleeding complication requiring intervention. Conclusions:Our single-center retrospective study describes the current prescribing practices and preliminary outcomes in ICU patients with prehospital use of DOACs. Up to 20% of the patients were transitioned to a different agent within 24 hours of ICU admission, whereas a significant proportion of patients (42%) had anticoagulation discontinued altogether. Most patients who suffered a major bleeding episode required either endoscopic or surgical intervention to control bleeding.

Septic shock definitions and associated outcomes in blood culture positive critically ill patients

“…Time-to-culture positivity has also been associated with earlier death in sepsis patients (16). However, the literature provides heterogeneous evidence with regard to the association of mortality in bacteremic patients with specific infections like urinary tract infections and in patients with sepsis-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23).…”

Nosocomial Infections in COVID-19 Patients Treated with Immunomodulators: A Narrative Review

“…A specific testing method was not reported in half of all the studies. Further, distinguishing bacterial colonization from infection presents a challenge, particularly in the context of critically ill or rapidly progressing COVID-19 infection who may have clinical deterioration for various reasons [82][83][84]. With the evolving standard of care for COVID-19 infections, varying proportions of patients received steroids and antibiotics across all the studies which may skew our conclusions.…”