Anticoagulation Management in Patients Receiving Warfarin at Private Cardiac Centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: Anticoagulants are the cornerstone therapy for thromboembolism prevention and treatment. Warfarin is the frequently prescribed drug and remains the oral anticoagulant of choice in low- and middle-income countries, including Ethiopia. It is a narrow therapeutic index drug that needs high-quality anticoagulation monitoring with frequent international normalization ratio (INR) testing. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess anticoagulation management with warfarin among adult outpatients at two selected private cardiac centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A hospital-based retrospective study design that enrolled 374 patients receiving warfarin was employed at two private cardiac centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The time in the therapeutic range (TTR) was calculated using the Rosendaal method. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 25. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 57 years, and 218 (58.3%) participants were females. Out of 3384 INR tests, 1562 (46.5%) were within the therapeutic range and the mean percentage of TTR was 47.24%. Only 25.67% of the patients spent their TTR ≥ 65%. The present study revealed that dose adjustments were required 1764 times. In non-therapeutic INR values of 1764 that required warfarin dose adjustment, 59.7% of the doses were adjusted. About 262 (70.1%) of co-prescribed medications had interaction with warfarin. Sixty-four patients (17.11%) experienced bleeding events. CONCLUSION: Anticoagulation management with warfarin was suboptimal in private cardiac Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, private cardiac centers. Warfarin adjustment practice for nontherapeutic INR values was not minimal, and many patients encountered bleeding during their course of therapy.