Assessment of exposure to direct oral anticoagulants in elderly hospitalised patients

It is unclear whether elderly patients established on direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have greater exposure to these drugs, which could subsequently increase their risk of bleeding. We assessed DOAC exposure and factors affecting it in a real-world elderly cohort of patients. For this, 151 medically stable hospital inpatients (76 established on apixaban, 61 on rivaroxaban, 14 on dabigatran) with a median [interquartile range (IQR)] age of 84 (78-89) years were recruited. Patients provided blood samples for measurement of peak and trough plasma DOAC concentrations. There was up to 48-fold and 13-fold variation in trough and peak plasma drug concentrations respectively. A significantly greater proportion of patients on apixaban had peak plasma drug concentrations within the reported ranges compared to those on either rivaroxaban or dabigatran (82 center dot 9% vs. 44 center dot 3% vs. 64 center dot 3% respectively; P < 0 center dot 001). A third of the variability in DOAC plasma concentrations was attributed to the influences of DOAC dosage, renal function and gender. To what extent the observed increases in DOAC exposure in the older patients is the cause of their increased risk of bleeding, which could potentially be ameliorated by dosing titration, requires further investigation.

Automated summary

The study found that there is significant variability in drug exposure among elderly patients receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), with factors such as dosage, renal function, and gender contributing to a third of the variability in DOAC plasma concentrations. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the observed increase in DOAC exposure in older patients is the cause of their increased risk of bleeding, which could potentially be alleviated through dosing titration.