ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the perception of anticoagulant treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) in physicians from county-level hospitals.Methods Two hundred and ninety two physicians from 9 hospitals of Jiangsu,Henan,Zhejiang,Jiangxi provinces were enrolled in this cross-sectional survey from June to November 2013.A standard questionnaire was used in the survey,which consisted of questions on knowledge,awareness and concerns of physicians regarding the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and administration of warfarin.Results Total 292 questionnaires were returned and 208 of them were finally analyzed.According to the reports of the physicians,the percentage of anticoagulant treatment was 30.0％ (10.0％-60.0％) in patients with rheumatic valvular AF,20.0％ (10.0％-50.0％) in patients with non-valvular AF and 80.0％ (40.0％-100.0％) in those with mechanical heart valve replacement.The most common concerns of prescribing warfarin were worries about the bleeding related to warfarin (74.0％,154),the necessary of monitoring INR (65.4％,136) and advanced age (44.7％,93).A half of physicians (51.0％,106) thought that ECG was the main means for diagnosis of AF and only 28.3％ (59) used both ECG and Holter as diagnosis procedure.Among the physicians who reported to use INR for monitoring warfarin administration,62.5％ (130) reported a target ranging 2-3 and one third reported a target INR ＜ 2.The proportion of the physicians who were aware of CHADS2 score and CHA2DS2-VASc score was 51.0％ (106) and 41.3％ (86),but only 15.4％ (32) and 6.3％ (13) of them knew the correct answer of the risk factors,respectively.Although 34.6％ (72) physicians were aware of HAS-BLED score,only 5.3％ (11) selected the 9 parameters correctly.68.3％ (142) physicians reported that vitamin K is the antidote for warfarin.Conclusion This study reveals the concerns and deficits in perception of anticoagulant treatment for AF patients in physicians of county-level hospitals,suggesting that education programs are needed to increase the prevalence of warfarin use in patients with AF.
