Published Online
on March 4, 2004

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2004

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Submitted on October 20, 2003
Accepted on January 8, 2004

Prescription of Antithrombotic Therapy in Older Patients Hospitalized for Transient Ischemic Attack and Ischemic Stroke: The GIFA Study

Stefano Volpato MD^*; Cinzia Maraldi MD; Alessandro Blè MD; Monica Ranzini MD; Anna Rita Atti MD; Ligia J. Dominguez MD; Mario Barbagallo MD; Renato Fellin MD; and Giovanni Zuliani MD

From 2nd Section of Internal Medicine (S.V., C.M., A.B., M.R., A.R.A., R.F., G.Z.), Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Italy; and Geriatric Section (L.J.D., M.B.), Department of Emergent Pathologies, University of Palermo, Italy.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: vlt{at}unife.it.

Background and Purpose--Antithrombotic therapy has been demonstrated as an effective tool for secondary ischemic stroke prevention. Nevertheless, scant data are available on actual prescription of this therapy in clinical practice.

Methods--A total of 17 337 patients admitted to geriatric and internal medicine wards participating in the study in the 1993 to 1998 survey period were analyzed. Patients with coded diagnoses of ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) were selected. Data recorded included demographic and clinical characteristics and medication prescription during hospital stay and at discharge. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify conditions associated with the prescription of antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs.

Results--Among 946 patients with diagnosis of stroke or TIA (mean age 78 years), >40% was discharged without antithrombotic prescription. Conditions that made the prescription more unlikely were diagnosis of stroke (odds ratio [OR]: 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44 to 0.86), presence of anemia (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.49 to 0.98), severe disability (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.75), and cognitive impairment (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.43 to 0.75). There was an independent and additive association of physical and cognitive status with antithrombotic therapy prescription.

Conclusions--A high rate of patients affected by stroke or TIA are discharged from the hospital without antithrombotic therapy. The most important correlates of the likelihood of not receiving an antithrombotic medication were cognitive and functional status.

Key words: antithrombotic therapy • stroke • aging • epidemiology

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