Oral anticoagulant use increases bleeding risk in untreated respiratory tract infection cases; BMJ

Majority of oral anticoagulants are used to prevent or treat venous thromboembolism or stroke in persons who have atrial fibrillation. Warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants are the most commonly used oral anticoagulants.

In a new study conducted by Haroon Ahmed and team it has been found that Oral anticoagulant use increases bleeding risk in untreated respiratory tract infection cases.

The study revealed that with use of Oral anticoagulant during the first 14 days after an untreated respiratory tract infection, there is a twofold increase in the risk of bleeding. 

The findings of this study were published in the British Medical Journal.

The goal of this study was to determine the link between community-acquired respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and a variety of bleeding episodes without prompt antibiotic prescription.

As a self-controlled trial, general practices in England contributed data to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD. Between January 2010 and December 2019, 1208 adult warfarin or direct oral anticoagulant users with a general practice or hospital admission record of a bleeding event and a general practice record of a consultation for a community acquired respiratory tract infection for which immediate antibiotics were not prescribed were studied (that is, untreated). The main outcomes were the relative incidence of major bleeding and clinically relevant non-major bleeding in the 0-14 days following an untreated respiratory tract infection, as compared to time periods when participants were not exposed.