England (Commonwealth Union) – Anticoagulants were first discovered in the early 1900s by Jay McLean who was then a second-year medical student who was looking to develop a procoagulant but instead made this significant breakthrough.
A new study by researchers from University College London (UCL) Comparing direct oral anticoagulants which are blood thinners, generally prescribed for irregular heartbeats, has noted the drug with the lowest risk of bleeding. The researchers stated that 1 of the 2 most common direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), apixaban, has minimal risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, with similar indications on avoiding strokes and other side effects.
DOACs are generally taken to avoid strokes for people with atrial fibrillation, which are slow or irregular heartbeats that affect more than 33 million people across the globe. DOACs recently become more frequently used than warfarin, the prior standard treatment, as they are not required as much follow-ups (played a key role during the Covid-19 pandemic with lockdowns) and have lower risk of side-effects.
The new study had the comparison of the efficacy and risk of side effects for the 4 most common DOACs. They reviewed data of over 500,000 new DOAC users in the UK, France, Germany and the US, consisting of 281,320 apixaban users, 61,008 dabigatran users,12,722 edoxaban users, together with 172,176 rivaroxaban users. All four drugs saw comparable findings for ischemic stroke, brain bleeds and all-cause mortality, while a difference was noted in risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, a widely concerning side effect of DOACs.
The study demonstrated that apixaban was highlighted for having less risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, with 19-28% lesser risks when contrasted directly to each 1 of the other 3 DOACs. The study saw that their results held true when evaluating data only for those above 80 years old, and those who had chronic kidney disease, 2 groups that are frequently less represented in clinical trials.
