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Introduction: Current clinical guidelines recommend expedited repair of hip fracture to reduce morbidity and mortality. A significant number of hip fracture patients have concomitant cardiovascular disease requiring anticoagulation. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), which have been traditionally used, might be associated with an increased time to surgery (TTS) and it remains unknown what effect direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have on this metric. Our objective is to determine how anticoagulation with a VKA or DOAC affects TTS., Materials and Methods: This is a case control study comparing TTS in consecutively admitted hip fracture patients receiving either a DOAC or VKA with age- and gender-matched controls between January 1, 2010 and March 24, 2014. The primary end point is TTS, which is defined as the time elapsed from admission to surgery. Secondary end points include the rate of stroke, death, bleeding and VTE during admission., Results: Of 2258 patients, 233 were on a VKA while 27 were on a DOAC. Median TTS seems to be longer in patients receiving a DOAC or a VKA when compared to controls. (40 h vs. 26.2h). The DOAC group tended to have longer median TTS when compared to the VKA groups (66.9h vs. 39.4h) There was no difference in the rate of stroke, death, bleeding and VTE during admission., Conclusions: Patients on anticoagulation prior to admission for hip fracture experienced longer delays in surgery when compared to patients not receiving anticoagulation. Patients on a DOAC experienced the longest surgical delay., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are used for treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF). Given the shorter half-life and lack of laboratory monitoring compared to vitamin-K antagonists (VKAs), adequate adherence to DOACs is important. Reported anticoagulation adherence is unclear in clinical practice., Objectives: To assess self-reported anticoagulation adherence in a tertiary center anticoagulation clinic., Patients/methods: Cross-sectional study of patients on oral anticoagulants (VKAs, rivaroxaban, dabigatran and apixaban). Anticoagulation adherence was assessed using the 4-item Morisky score. Baseline characteristics were evaluated for association with adherence., Results: Five hundred patients completed the survey; 74% were on VKAs and 26% on DOACs: rivaroxaban 102 (79%); dabigatran 26 (19%); apixaban 2 (2%). Main indications for anticoagulation were VTE (72%) and AF (18%). Self-reported anticoagulation adherence using the 4-item Morisky scale was 56.2% for patients on VKAs and 57.1% for patients on DOACs. Predictors of anticoagulation adherence were age (OR=1.02; 95% CI:1.01-1.03), female gender (OR=1.58; 95% CI:1.10-2.27), use of additional oral medications (OR=2.78; 95% CI:1.67-4.63), and retired employment status (OR=2.31; 95% CI:1.51-3.55). In backward selection multivariate analyses age, female gender and use of other oral medications remained significantly associated with anticoagulation adherence., Conclusions: Self-reported anticoagulation adherence was similar between VKAs and DOACs. Until laboratory assays are universally available to evaluate DOAC adherence, physicians should emphasize the importance of anticoagulation adherence at each patient encounter. The Morisky scale provides simple assessment of anticoagulation adherence; however it has not yet been validation for this purpose., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The true incidence of symptomatic implanted port related venous thromboembolism (VTE) in cancer patients is unclear and there is very limited data on its associated risk factors., Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of consecutive cancer outpatients who received an ultrasound guided implanted port insertion for the administration of chemotherapy. The primary outcome measure was symptomatic VTE. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for symptomatic VTE., Results: A total of 400 cancer patients with a newly inserted implanted port for deliverance of chemotherapy were included in the study. Median age was 58years (range of 21 to 85years) and 120 (30%) were males. Patients were followed for a median of 12months and none received thrombophrophylaxis. Of the 400 patients included in the analysis, 34 patients (8.5%; 95% CI: 6.0 to 11.7%) had symptomatic VTE (16 DVTs, 16 PEs, and 2 with both). In the univariate analyses, metastatic disease, male gender and right sided implanted port insertion were significantly associated with the risk of VTE. In the multiple-variable analysis, male gender (OR 2.17, p=0.04) and presence of metastases (OR 8.22, p<0.01) were the two significant independent predictors of implanted port related VTE., Conclusion: Symptomatic VTE is a frequent complication in cancer patients with implanted port receiving chemotherapy. Gender and presence of metastatic disease are independent risk factors for symptomatic VTE. Future trials assessing the role of thromboprophylaxis among these higher risk patients are needed., (© 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)