A descriptive evaluation of warfarin use in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Anticoagulation in pulmonary arterial hypertension - association with mortality, healthcare utilization, and quality of life: The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry (PHAR)

BACKGROUND

Routine long-term anticoagulation in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is controversial. To date, anticoagulation has been found to be beneficial or neutral in idiopathic disease (IPAH) and neutral-to-harmful in connective tissue disease (CTD-PAH). We sought to examine the association between anticoagulation and mortality, healthcare utilization, and quality of life (QoL) in PAH.

METHODS

The PHAR is a prospective registry of PAH patients referred to 58 pulmonary hypertension care centers in the United States. We compared patients who received anticoagulation during enrollment (questionnaire documented) to those who did not. Cox proportional hazard models were used for mortality, Poisson multivariate regression models for healthcare utilization, and generalized estimating equations for QOL RESULTS: Of 1175 patients included, 316 patients were treated with anticoagulation. IPAH/hereditary PAH (HPAH) comprised 46% of the cohort and CTD-PAH comprised 33%. After adjustment for demographics, clinical characteristics, site and disease severity, anticoagulation was not associated with mortality in the overall population (HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.72-1.36), IPAH/HPAH (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.74-1.94), or CTD-PAH (HR 0.87; 95% CI, 0.53-1.42). Anticoagulation was associated with an increased rate of emergency department visits (IRR: 1.41), hospitalizations (IRR: 1.30), and hospital days (IRR 1.33). QOL measured by emPHasis-10 score was worse in patients receiving anticoagulation (mean difference 1.74; 95% CI 0.40-3.09).

CONCLUSIONS

Anticoagulation is not associated with higher mortality, but is associated with increased healthcare utilization in the PHAR. PAH-specific QoL may be worse in patients receiving anticoagulation. The risks and benefits surrounding routine prescription of anticoagulation for PAH should be carefully considered.

Current pharmacogenomic recommendations in chronic respiratory diseases: Is there a biomarker ready for clinical implementation?

INTRODUCTION

The study of genetic variants in response to different drugs has predominated in fields of medicine such as oncology and infectious diseases. In chronic respiratory diseases, the available pharmacogenomic information is scarce but not less relevant.

AREAS COVERED

We searched the pharmacogenomic recommendations for respiratory diseases in the Table of Pharmacogenomic Biomarkers in Drug Labeling (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Implementation Consortium (CPIC), and PharmGKB. The main pharmacogenomics recommendation in this field is to assess CFTR variants for using ivacaftor and its combination. The drugs' labels for arformoterol, indacaterol, and umeclidinium indicate a lack of influence of genetic variants in the pharmacokinetics of these drugs. Further studies should evaluate the contribution of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 variants for formoterol. In addition, there are reports of potential pharmacogenetic variants in the treatment with acetylcysteine (TOLLIP rs3750920) and captopril (ACE rs1799752). The genetic variations for warfarin also are presented in PharmGKB and CPIC for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

EXPERT OPINION

The pharmacogenomics recommendations for lung diseases are limited. The clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics in treating respiratory diseases will contribute to the quality of life of patients with chronic respiratory diseases.

Evaluation of Warfarin Use in Patients With Mental Health Conditions in a Rural Community Health Center System

Background: Mental health conditions (MHCs) may affect a patient's ability to comply with requirements necessary for safe warfarin use. Objective: To describe warfarin control, defined as time in therapeutic range (TTR), for patients with and without MHCs receiving care through a pharmacist-driven anticoagulation service within a rural community health center system. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients on warfarin between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2017. The primary study endpoint was TTR. Secondary endpoints were the number of international normalized ratios (INRs) per 30 days, percentage of INRs within, above, and below target range, and warfarin-related adverse events. Results: A total of 79 patients were included-37 with and 42 without MHCs. Patients were mostly male (n = 47; 59.5%) and prescribed warfarin for atrial fibrillation (n = 45; 57.0%). There were no differences in overall TTR between those with (59.6%; interquartile range = 41.8-73.4) versus without (63.4%; interquartile range = 46.7-73.6) MHCs (P = .542). Secondary outcomes showed no differences in the frequency or percentage of INRs in, above, or below target range (all P > .05). However, there were about twice as many hemorrhagic complications in the group with MHCs (27% vs 11.9%; P = .149). Conclusion: Patients with MHCs experienced no difference in overall TTR as compared to patients without MHCs. However, there was a non-statistically significant reduction in TTR, which would be consistent with limited existing data and demonstrates possible reproducibility to a rural, underserved patient population. Future research is needed to validate these outcomes.