Patient-reported health preferences of anticoagulant-related outcomes

Strokes can have a catastrophic impact on patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). In addition to warfarin, two novel oral anticoagulants, i.e., dabigatran and rivaroxaban, have been approved to prevent strokes. This study aimed to use direct measures to elicit patient-reported utilities (i.e., preferences) for anticoagulant-related outcomes. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 100 patients taking warfarin in an anticoagulation clinic. Utilities for six long-term and four short-term anticoagulant-related health states were elicited by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and standard gamble (SG) methods. Health states with the highest SG-derived mean utility values were “well on rivaroxaban” (mean ± SD = 0.90 ± 0.15), “well on warfarin” (0.86 ± 0.17), and “well on dabigatran” (0.83 ± 0.18). Approximately half of the patients considered major ischemic stroke (−1.57 ± 6.77) and intracranial hemorrhage (−1.99 ± 6.98) to be worse than death. The percentages of patients who considered a particular health state worse than death ranged from 0 to 55 % among various health states assessed. The VAS had similar findings. Good logical consistency was observed in both VAS- and SG-derived utility values. Ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage had a significant impact on patients’ HRQoL. Greater variation in patients’ preferences was observed for more severely impaired health states, indicating the need for individualized medical decision-making. In this study, both long-term and short-term health states were included in the utility assessment. The findings of this study can be used in cost-utility analysis of future anticoagulation therapies.