Anticoagulation in Italian patients with venous thromboembolism and thrombophilic alterations: findings from START2...

Randomised control trials have assessed the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants in the prophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Positive but limited results have been reported in patients with inherited thrombophilia. Using an Italian, multicentre, prospective registry of consecutive patients presenting with symptomatic, acute VTE, we aimed to assess which factors are involved in making the choice of the drug that best fits the patient's risk profile in a large real-world setting of VTE patients.

We investigated 4,866 VTE patients who took oral anticoagulants in the period between 2012 and April 2018 to prevent a new thromboembolic episode.

The large majority of patients who underwent thrombophilic screening, regardless of the results obtained, were prescribed direct oral anticoagulants rather than conventional anticoagulant therapy (p<0.001). During anticoagulation, bleeding events occurred more frequently in patients on conventional anticoagulant therapy (4.2%) than in those receiving direct oral anticoagulants (1.8%) and an increase in bleeding events was observed in patients who tested positive at the thrombophilic screening. Overall, a higher number of recurrent VTE was observed in patients not screened for thrombophilia (n=36; 1.7%) than in those screened (n=20; 0.7%; adjusted odds ratio: 2.2; 95% confidence interval: 1.2-4.1).

The present data confirm previous findings from other post-marketing registries and suggest that the choice of oral anticoagulation is strongly driven by patients' characteristics and VTE manifestations. Factors leading to the prescription of thrombophilic screening may identify a patient with a lower risk of VTE recurrence during anticoagulation.