RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Deaths from cardiovascular disease involving anticoagulants: a systematic synthesis of coroners’ case reports
JF BJGP Open
JO BJGP Open
FD Royal College of General Practitioners
SP BJGPO.2021.0150
DO 10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0150
VO 6
IS 1
A1 Ali Anis
A1 Carl Heneghan
A1 Jeffrey K Aronson
A1 Nicholas J DeVito
A1 Georgia C Richards
YR 2022
UL http://bjgpopen.org/content/6/1/BJGPO.2021.0150.abstract
AB Background The global burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is forecast to increase, and anticoagulants will remain important medicines for its management. Coroners' Prevention of Future Death reports (PFDs) provide valuable insights that may enable safer and more effective use of these agents.Aim To identify CVD-related PFDs involving anticoagulants.Design & setting Case series of coronial reports in England and Wales between 2013 and 2019.Method A total of 3037 PFDs were screened for eligibility. PFDs were included where CVD and an anticoagulant caused or contributed to the death. Included cases were descriptively analysed and content analysis was used to assess concerns raised by coroners and who had responded to them.Results The study identified 113 CVD-related PFDs involving anticoagulants. Warfarin (36%, n = 41), enoxaparin (11%, n = 12), and rivaroxaban (11%, n = 12) were the most common anticoagulants reported. Concerns most frequently raised by coroners included poor systems (31%), poor communication (25%), and failures to keep accurate medical records (25%). These concerns were most often directed to NHS trusts (29%), hospitals (10%), and general practices (8%). Nearly two-thirds (60%) of PFDs had not received responses from such organisations, which are mandatory under regulation 28 of the Coroners' (Investigations) Regulations 2013. A publicly available tool has been created by the authors (https://preventabledeathstracker.net), which displays coroners’ reports in England and Wales to streamline access, and identify important lessons to prevent future deaths.Conclusion National organisations, healthcare professionals, and prescribers should take actions to address the concerns of coroners in PFDs to improve the safe use of anticoagulants in patients with CVD.