Bleeding Complications of Anticoagulation Therapy in Clinical Practice-Epidemiology and Management: Review of the Literature.

Abstract

Due to their very wide range of indications, anticoagulants are one of the most commonly used drug groups. Although these drugs are characterized by different mechanisms of action, the most common complication of their use is still bleeding episodes, the frequency of which depends largely on the clinical condition of the patient using such therapy. For this reason, to this day, the best method of preventing bleeding complications remains the assessment of bleeding risk using scales such as HAS-BLED. There are many reports in the literature assessing the occurrence of this type of complication after the use of drugs affecting the coagulation process, as well as many reports comparing individual groups of drugs with different mechanisms of action. However, there are still no clear guidelines that would indicate which group of anticoagulants should be preferred in particular groups of patients. The aim of our article is to summarize the data collected so far regarding the safety of using specific groups of anticoagulants and the frequency of bleeding complications after their use.