Dataset Information

Are patients on oral anticoagulation therapy aware of its effects? A cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Oral anticoagulants are one of the most frequently used medications. However, these drugs have a range of side effects including potential life-threatening complications. Little is known regarding the awareness of its side effect profile amongst the patients in Pakistan. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of oral anticoagulant therapy and its side effects among its users.

Results

The mean age was 48.9?±?15.2 years. Median scores of the participants for knowledge regarding oral anticoagulants and warfarin were 48.7 (8.3-91.7) and 10.3 (0.0-70.0) respectively. Of 207 patients, most notably, 65.7% did not know what side effects to be wary of or how to reduce their occurrence; and most patients were unaware of the interaction between oral anticoagulant drugs and over-the-counter substances such as aspirin, herbal medicines and alcohol. Knowledge of international normalised ratio (INR) was extremely poor with more than 75% of the population not being aware of the target INR range during warfarin therapy. Higher level of education was significantly associated with better knowledge scores. Overall, knowledge of oral anticoagulant therapy and INR monitoring is extremely poor among oral anticoagulant users.

SUBMITTER: Zahid I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7285618 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Are patients on oral anticoagulation therapy aware of its effects? A cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan.

Zahid Ibrahim I Ul Hassan Syed Wajih SW Bhurya Nida Sehar NS Alam Sheena Nadeem SN Hasan Choudhary Ahmed CA Shah Bakht Hussain BH Fatima Fasiha Bakhtawar FB Ahmed Ayesha A Ul Hassan Syed Sabih SS Hayat Javeria J Zulfiqar Aqsa A Sheikh Rija R Aziz Momin M Siddiqi Rabbia R Fatima Kaneez K Khan Muhammad Shahzeb MS

BMC research notes 20200609 1

<h4>Objective</h4>Oral anticoagulants are one of the most frequently used medications. However, these drugs have a range of side effects including potential life-threatening complications. Little is known regarding the awareness of its side effect profile amongst the patients in Pakistan. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of oral anticoagulant therapy and its side effects among its users.<h4>Results</h4>The mean age was 48.9 ± 15.2 years. Median scores of the participa ...[more]

PMID: 32517741

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Project description:BackgroundPrescription of medicines by non-doctors is an issue with serious global implications. To our knowledge prescription of drugs by medical and non-medical students has not been studied before. We aimed to determine the practice and attitudes of drug prescription by medical students and: a) how non-medical students respond to this practice, b) How this compares with the attitudes and practices of non-medical students.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 600 students randomly selected from 2 medical and 2 non-medical universities. Ethical requirements were ensured and data was collected using self administered questionnaires. The Chi square tests and logistic univariate regression analyses were performed using SPSS v 14 to identify associations and differences.ResultsA total of 572 forms were completed and the sample consisted of 295 medical students and 277 non-medical students with no significant difference in their demographic profile. Of the 295 medical students 163 (55.3%) had prescribed a medicine independently and most (48.5%) said that they did this 2-3 times a year. The commonest reasons for this were 'previous experience' (68.7%), 'problem too trivial' (34.4%) and 'we knew everything about the condition' (31.3%). One-third (33.6%) of the undergraduate medical students thought that it was alright to independently diagnose an illness while a vast majority (78.3%) thought that it was alright for them to prescribe medicines to others. Common prescriptions were pain-killers, antipyretics, antiallergics and antibiotics. Medical students who prescribed medicines were of lesser age (CI = 1.366-1.887) and more likely to belong to the 1st (CI = 3.588-21.731), 2nd (CI = 2.059- 10.869) or 3rd (CI = 4.331-26.374) year of medical college. One-third (33.9%) of the non-medical students reported that a medical student had prescribed medicines to them and 21.3% said that they trusted medical students and would follow their advice blindly. Many students thought it alright for medical students to diagnose and treat illnesses. A similar proportion of non-medical students (58.5%) reported prescribing medicines to others.ConclusionPrescription of medicines by non-doctors is rampant and urgent corrective measures are warranted. We have highlighted areas for future research and intervention and have given a few recommendations.

Project description:IntroductionBirth spacing is a critical pathway to improving reproductive health. WHO recommends a minimum of 33-month interval between two consecutive births to reduce maternal, perinatal, infant morbidity and mortality. Our study evaluated factors associated with short birth intervals (SBIs) of less than 33 months between two consecutive births, in Karachi, Pakistan.MethodsWe used data from a cross-sectional study among married women of reproductive age (MWRA) who had at least one live birth in the 6 years preceding the survey (N=2394). Information regarding their sociodemographic characteristics, reproductive history, fertility preferences, family planning history and a 6-year reproductive calendar were collected. To identify factors associated with SBIs, we fitted simple and multiple Cox proportional hazards models and computed HRs with their 95% CIs.ResultsThe median birth interval was 25 months (IQR: 14-39 months), with 22.9% (833) of births occurring within 33 months of the index birth. Women's increasing age (25-30 years (aHR 0.63 (0.53 to 0.75), 30+ years (aHR 0.29, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.39) compared with 20-24 years; secondary education (aHR 0.75, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.88), intermediate education (aHR 0.62, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.80), higher education (aHR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.92) compared with no education, and a male child of the index birth (aHR 0.81, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.94) reduced the likelihood of SBIs. Women's younger age <20 years (aHR 1.24, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.24) compared with 20-24 years, and those who did not use contraception within 9 months of the index birth had a higher likelihood for SBIs for succeeding birth compared with those who used contraception (aHR 2.23, 95% CI 1.93 to 2.58).ConclusionStudy shows that birth intervals in the study population are lower than the national average. To optimise birth intervals, programmes should target child spacing strategies and counsel MWRA on the benefits of optimal birth spacing, family planning services and contraceptive utilisation.

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Dataset Information

Are patients on oral anticoagulation therapy aware of its effects? A cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan.

Objective

Results

Publications

Are patients on oral anticoagulation therapy aware of its effects? A cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan.

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