Quality of oral anticoagulation with phenprocoumon in regular medical care and its potential for improvement in a telemedicine-based coagulation service ¿ results from the prospective, multi-center, observational cohort study thrombEVAL (BMC Medicine)

Background: The majority of studies on quality of oral anticoagulation (OAC) therapy with vitamin K-antagonists are performed with short-acting warfarin. Data on long-acting phenprocoumon, which is frequently used in Europe for OAC therapy and is considered to enable more stable therapy adjustment, are scarce. In this study, we aimed to assess quality of OAC therapy with phenprocoumon in regular medical care and to evaluate its potential for optimization in a telemedicine-based coagulation service. Methods: In the prospective observational cohort study program thrombEVAL we investigated 2,011 patients from regular medical care in a multi-center cohort study and 760 patients from a telemedicine-based coagulation service in a single-center cohort study. Data were obtained from self-reported data, computer-assisted personal interviews, and laboratory measurements according to standard operating procedures with detailed quality control. Time in therapeutic range (TTR) was calculated by linear interpolation method to assess quality of OAC therapy. Study monitoring was carried out by an independent institution. Results: Overall, 15,377 treatment years and 48,955 international normalized ratio (INR) measurements were analyzed. Quality of anticoagulation, as measured by median TTR, was 66.3% (inte rquartile range (IQR) 47.8/81.9) in regular medical care and 75.5% (IQR 64.2/84.4) in the coagulation service (P