Abstract
We studied clinically relevant haemorrhagic and thromboembolic events in 213 patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) during 818 patient-years of anticoagulant (AC) treatment. The incidence of complicating events per 100 patient-years of treatment in three groups of patients, those with mitral valve disease (MVD; n = 34), without MVD (n = 102) and those with previous thromboembolism (TE; n = 77) was: major peripheral haemorrhages 3.1, 3.3 and 8.2 (non-MVD vs. TE group, P < 0.05). The proportion of thrombotest values < 5 and/or > 20% at regular check-ups was 9.8% in patients with and 6.9% in patients without major peripheral haemorrhages (P < 0.01). Major peripheral haemorrhages are frequent in patients with AF receiving AC treatment. They are most likely to occur in those with previous thromboembolism and among those with unstable AC control.