Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38068439›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2023

The Use of Oral Anticoagulation Is Not Independently Associated with Mortality in Frail Older Patients with Repeated Falls.

Lennaert A R Zwart, Jeske J Walgers, Martin E W Hemels, Tjeerd Germans, Joris R de Groot, René W M M Jansen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Observational
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Lennaert A R ZwartDepartment of Geriatric Medicine, Northwest Clinics, 1815 JD Alkmaar, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-9587-7507
Jeske J WalgersDepartment of Geriatric Medicine, Northwest Clinics, 1815 JD Alkmaar, The Netherlands.
Martin E W HemelsDepartment of Cardiology, Rijnstate Hospital, 6815 AD Arnhem, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-2373-9858
Tjeerd GermansDepartment of Cardiology, Northwest Clinics, 1815 JD Alkmaar, The Netherlands.
Joris R de GrootDepartment of Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-8122-7017
René W M M JansenDepartment of Geriatric Medicine, Northwest Clinics, 1815 JD Alkmaar, The Netherlands.
Amsterdam University Medical Centers · NLRadboud University Nijmegen · NLWestfriesgasthuis · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundParticularly in frail patients, anticoagulation may be underused because of the fear of bleeding.

objectiveTo determine whether the use of antithrombotic medication is an independent risk factor for mortality in frail elderly with repeated falls.

methodsAll patients aged 65 years or older at the Fall and Syncope Clinic were eligible. Frailty was calculated with a Frailty Index (FI) based on the accumulation of deficits model. Risks were calculated with a cox regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, and Frailty Index.

results663 patients were included in this analysis. The median age was 80 years, 438 were women (66%), 73% had polypharmacy, and 380 patients (57%) had cognitive impairment. The mean FI was 0.23 (sd 0.09), 182 patients were moderately frail (27.5%), and 259 (39.1%) were severely frail. A total of 140 (21%) used oral anticoagulation and 223 (34%) used antiplatelet agents. A total of 196 patients (29.6%) died during follow-up. In the adjusted cox regression model, the use of neither antiplatelets nor anticoagulation was associated with mortality. A strong association was found with frailty (HR 74.0, 95% CI 13.1-417.3) and a weak association with age (HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.03-1.08). A lower risk of mortality was seen in women (HR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.6).

conclusionsIn this cohort of frail older patients, there was no independent association between the use of antithrombotic medication and mortality. A strong association with mortality was found with frailty, a weak association was found with age, and a lower mortality risk was found in women. Our data indicate that the fear of bleeding or increased mortality in frail patients with an indication for oral anticoagulation may be unjustified.

Indexed as

anticoagulantsatrial fibrillationfrail elderlymortality

Identifiers

PMID38068439
PMCPMC10706899
OpenAlexW4389144012

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.