Health Services and Outcomes Research
Atrial Fibrillation Thursday, July 11th, 2013J Am Heart Assoc: 7/5/13
Limited English Proficient Patients and Time Spent in Therapeutic Range in a Warfarin Anticoagulation Clinic
Background While anticoagulation clinics have been shown to deliver tailored, high‐quality care to patients receiving warfarin therapy, communication barriers with limited English proficient (LEP) patients may lead to disparities in anticoagulation outcomes.
Methods and Results We analyzed data on 3770 patients receiving care from the Massachusetts General Hospital Anticoagulation Management Service (AMS) from 2009 to 2010. This included data on international normalized ratio (INR) tests and patient characteristics, including language and whether AMS used a surrogate for primary communication. We calculated percent time in therapeutic range (TTR for INR between 2.0 and 3.0) and time in danger range (TDR for INR <1.8 or >3.5) using the standard Rosendaal interpolation method. Read more