Cargando…

Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Over the years, the internet has enabled considerable progress in the management of chronic diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes. It also provides novel opportunities in online anticoagulation management. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cao, Hua, Jiang, Shaojun, Lv, Meina, Wu, Tingting, Chen, Wenjun, Zhang, Jinhua
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7967226/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33650976
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23332
_version_ 1783665830428409856
author Cao, Hua
Jiang, Shaojun
Lv, Meina
Wu, Tingting
Chen, Wenjun
Zhang, Jinhua
author_facet Cao, Hua
Jiang, Shaojun
Lv, Meina
Wu, Tingting
Chen, Wenjun
Zhang, Jinhua
author_sort Cao, Hua
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Over the years, the internet has enabled considerable progress in the management of chronic diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes. It also provides novel opportunities in online anticoagulation management. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness of online anticoagulation management. OBJECTIVE: This study explored the effectiveness and safety of warfarin management via the Alfalfa app, so as to provide evidence in support of anticoagulant management through online services. METHODS: In this retrospective, observational cohort study, 824 patients were included. In the offline group, patients went to the hospital clinic for warfarin management. In the Alfalfa app group, patients reported the dose of warfarin, current international normalized ratio (INR) value, and other related information through the Alfalfa app. Physicians or pharmacists used the app to adjust the dose of warfarin and determined the time for the next blood INR testing. Patients completed INR testing by point-of-care at home or hospital. The primary outcome of the study was the percentage of time in therapeutic range (TTR). Secondary outcomes included minor and major bleeding events, thrombotic events, warfarin-related emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and high INR values. RESULTS: The TTR and percentage of INR values in the range were significantly higher in the Alfalfa app group than in the offline group (79.35% vs 52.38%, P<.001; 3314/4282, 77.39% vs 2005/4202, 47.72%, P<.001, respectively). Patients managed via the Alfalfa app had lower rates of subtherapeutic (172/4282, 4.02% vs 388/4202, 9.23%; P<.001), supratherapeutic (487/4282, 11.37% vs 882/4202, 20.99%; P<.001), and extreme subtherapeutic INR values (290/4282, 6.77% vs 910/4202, 21.66%; P<.001). Additionally, the Alfalfa app group had lower incidences of major bleeding (2/425, 0.5% vs 12/399, 3.0%; P=.005), warfarin-related emergency department visits (13/425, 3.1% vs 37/399, 9.3%; P<.001), and hospital admissions (1/425, 0.2% vs 12/399, 3.0%; P=.001) compared with the offline group. However, the Alfalfa app group had a higher incidence of minor bleeding than the offline group (45/425, 10.6% vs 20/399, 5.0%; P=.003). There were similar incidences in extreme supratherapeutic INR values (19/4282, 0.44% vs 17/4202, 0.40%; P=.78) and thromboembolic events (1/425, 0.2% vs 1/399, 0.3%; P=.53) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Warfarin management is superior via the Alfalfa app than via offline services in terms of major bleeding events, warfarin-related emergency department visits, and hospital admissions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7967226
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher JMIR Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-79672262021-03-24 Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study Cao, Hua Jiang, Shaojun Lv, Meina Wu, Tingting Chen, Wenjun Zhang, Jinhua JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Original Paper BACKGROUND: Over the years, the internet has enabled considerable progress in the management of chronic diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes. It also provides novel opportunities in online anticoagulation management. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence regarding the effectiveness of online anticoagulation management. OBJECTIVE: This study explored the effectiveness and safety of warfarin management via the Alfalfa app, so as to provide evidence in support of anticoagulant management through online services. METHODS: In this retrospective, observational cohort study, 824 patients were included. In the offline group, patients went to the hospital clinic for warfarin management. In the Alfalfa app group, patients reported the dose of warfarin, current international normalized ratio (INR) value, and other related information through the Alfalfa app. Physicians or pharmacists used the app to adjust the dose of warfarin and determined the time for the next blood INR testing. Patients completed INR testing by point-of-care at home or hospital. The primary outcome of the study was the percentage of time in therapeutic range (TTR). Secondary outcomes included minor and major bleeding events, thrombotic events, warfarin-related emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and high INR values. RESULTS: The TTR and percentage of INR values in the range were significantly higher in the Alfalfa app group than in the offline group (79.35% vs 52.38%, P<.001; 3314/4282, 77.39% vs 2005/4202, 47.72%, P<.001, respectively). Patients managed via the Alfalfa app had lower rates of subtherapeutic (172/4282, 4.02% vs 388/4202, 9.23%; P<.001), supratherapeutic (487/4282, 11.37% vs 882/4202, 20.99%; P<.001), and extreme subtherapeutic INR values (290/4282, 6.77% vs 910/4202, 21.66%; P<.001). Additionally, the Alfalfa app group had lower incidences of major bleeding (2/425, 0.5% vs 12/399, 3.0%; P=.005), warfarin-related emergency department visits (13/425, 3.1% vs 37/399, 9.3%; P<.001), and hospital admissions (1/425, 0.2% vs 12/399, 3.0%; P=.001) compared with the offline group. However, the Alfalfa app group had a higher incidence of minor bleeding than the offline group (45/425, 10.6% vs 20/399, 5.0%; P=.003). There were similar incidences in extreme supratherapeutic INR values (19/4282, 0.44% vs 17/4202, 0.40%; P=.78) and thromboembolic events (1/425, 0.2% vs 1/399, 0.3%; P=.53) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Warfarin management is superior via the Alfalfa app than via offline services in terms of major bleeding events, warfarin-related emergency department visits, and hospital admissions. JMIR Publications 2021-03-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7967226/ /pubmed/33650976 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23332 Text en ©Hua Cao, Shaojun Jiang, Meina Lv, Tingting Wu, Wenjun Chen, Jinhua Zhang. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 02.03.2021. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Cao, Hua
Jiang, Shaojun
Lv, Meina
Wu, Tingting
Chen, Wenjun
Zhang, Jinhua
Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title_full Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title_fullStr Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title_short Effectiveness of the Alfalfa App in Warfarin Therapy Management for Patients Undergoing Venous Thrombosis Prevention and Treatment: Cohort Study
title_sort effectiveness of the alfalfa app in warfarin therapy management for patients undergoing venous thrombosis prevention and treatment: cohort study
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7967226/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33650976
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23332
work_keys_str_mv AT caohua effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy
AT jiangshaojun effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy
AT lvmeina effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy
AT wutingting effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy
AT chenwenjun effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy
AT zhangjinhua effectivenessofthealfalfaappinwarfarintherapymanagementforpatientsundergoingvenousthrombosispreventionandtreatmentcohortstudy