New Internet-Based Warfarin Anticoagulation Management Approach After Mechanical Heart Valve Replacement: Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Mechanical heart valve replacement (MHVR) is an effective method for the treatment of severe heart valve disease; however, it subjects patient to lifelong warfarin therapy after MHVR with the attendant risk of bleeding and thrombosis. Whether internet-based warfarin management reduces complications and improves patient quality of life remains unknown.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of internet-based warfarin management and the conventional approach in patients who received MHVR in order to provide evidence regarding alternative strategies for long-term anticoagulation.

Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled clinical trial with a 1-year follow-up. Patients who needed long-term warfarin anticoagulation after MHVR were enrolled and then randomly divided into conventional and internet-based management groups. The percentage of time in the therapeutic range (TTR) was used as the primary outcome, while bleeding, thrombosis, and other events were the secondary outcomes.

Results: A total of 721 patients were enrolled. The baseline characteristics did not reach statistical differences between the 2 groups, suggesting the random assignment was successful. As a result, the internet-based group showed a significantly higher TTR (mean 0.53, SD 0.24 vs mean 0.46, SD 0.21; P<.001) and fraction of time in the therapeutic range (mean 0.48, SD 0.22 vs mean 0.42, SD 0.19; P<.001) than did those in the conventional group. Furthermore, as expected, the anticoagulation complications, including the bleeding and embolic events had a lower frequency in the internet-based group than in the conventional group (6.94% vs 12.74%; P=.01). Logistic regression showed that internet-based management increased the TTR by 7% (odds ratio [OR] 1.07, 95% CI 1.05-1.09; P<.001) and reduced the bleeding and embolic risk by 6% (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.96; P=.01). Moreover, low TTR was found to be a risk factor for bleeding and embolic events (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.83-0.91; P=.005).

Conclusions: The internet-based warfarin management is superior to the conventional method, as it can reduce the anticoagulation complications in patients who receive long-term warfarin anticoagulation after MHVR.

Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1800016204; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=27518.

International registered report identifier (irrid): RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032949.