O ral anticoagulant therapy is essential for the treatment and prevention of many thromboembolic disorders. Since anticoagulants can cause serious adverse events, 1-3 physicians monitor the international normalized ratios of patients taking these drugs to ensure that their ratios fall within a target range.An international normalized ratio of 2-3 is the most common target range. Results of previous studies revealed an increased risk of bleeding among patients whose ratios exceeded 4, an increased risk of stroke among patients whose ratios were 1.5-2 and a decreased risk of stroke at a ratio of 2.4. 4,5 However, the evidence supporting the range of 2-3 has some deficiencies. We sought to determine whether the risk of hemorrhagic and thromboembolic events is minimized at an international normalized ratio of 2-3 among patients taking anticoagulants. In addition, it has been observed that patients spend more time with a ratio below 2 than above 3.6,7 The impact of such systematic underanticoagulation on patient outcomes is unknown. We sought to determine the effect of under-or overanticoagulation on the risk of thromboemboli and hemorrhage.
Methods
Data sourcesWe searched MEDLINE (1966MEDLINE ( -2006 for potentially pertinent studies. We then modified our strategy to include EMBASE (1980EMBASE ( -2006, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1980Trials ( -2006 and CINAHL (1982CINAHL ( -2006 databases. We manually searched references in the Science Citation Index. Our search strategy is outlined in Appendix 1 (available at www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/3/235/DC2).
Study selection