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Problems related with anticoagulant usage during COVID-19 outbreak
The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to many countries asking or requiring their citizens to stay home to avoid potentially contacting the disease or exposing others to the disease. Older patients with comorbidities are at particular risk of developing severe infection with COVID-19. Many people on anticoagulation are older and have significant comorbities.1
In many countries, including Turkey, governments have imposed restrictions on travel from home to limit the spread of COVID-19. Although so-called “sheltering in place” is proving to be an effective way to decrease community transmission, patients receiving vitamin K antagonist (VKA) treatment, like warfarin, may be harmed by such policies. Routine reporting of patients to outpatient clinics of hospitals or laboratories for checking their international normalized ratio (INR) places them at risk for community-acquired infection from COVID-19, whereas not traveling for INR checks places them at risk for a complication of over- or under-anticoagulation as INR levels can be labile in many patients on VKAs.
According to the current national and international guidelines, although therapy with novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) is suggested over VKAs, due to reimbursement problems, many people with deep vein thrombosis of the leg or pulmonary embolism are still receiving VKA therapy.2 , 3 VKAs are also used after venous stenting procedures in patients with chronic venous occlusion syndromes to avoid stent thrombosis. Although there are no definite recommendations about anticoagulation after venous stenting, many patients are receiving VKAs.
Patients with mechanical heart valve replacement also need to use VKAs for long-term anticoagulant therapy to avoid thrombosis. Current guidelines for the management of valvular heart diseases favor VKAs for long-term therapy after valve replacement surgery.4
Therefore, many patients need to travel to hospitals or laboratories to screen their INR levels, and it makes them more susceptible to the COVID-19 infection.
If possible during the current COVID-19 pandemic, patients requiring anticoagulant therapy for deep vein thrombosis, venous stent therapy, and nonvalvular atrial fibrillation should be converted to NOACs for decreasing their need to travel from home to avoid COVID-19 transmission without increasing their risk for anticoagulant therapy-related complications.
For patients with mechanical heart valves or who are unable to be treated with an NOAC therapy, INR in-home testing machines can be a convenient alternative method and allow patients to check their INR levels without a need for frequent visits to hospitals or laboratories. Thus, a decrease in hospital visits leads to minimizing COVID-19 transmission. Patients need to consult their doctors for interval of tests and results for adjusting VKAs.
As a result, considering that COVID-19 is transmitted by inhalation and close contact, the in-home INR test method and consulting the results by phone may be favorable. For those who are suitable for NOACs should be converted from a VKA to an NOAC. Such measures are important precautions to prevent the spread and inevitable consequences of disease in patients under anticoagulant therapies.
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