Individual time within target range in patients treated with vitamin K antagonists: main determinant of quality of anticoagulation and predictor of clinical outcome. a retrospective study of 2300 consecutive patients with venous thromboembolism

Summary The efficacy and safety of vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are related to the actual level of anticoagulation (given as the international normalized ratio, INR). It is often difficult to maintain an optimal INR over time. We assessed the clinical impact of the individual time spent within INR target range (ITTR) in 2304 consecutive patients with venous thromboembolism. Annual incidences of recurrent thromboembolism and major bleeding were 6·2% and 2·8% respectively. The relative risk (RR) of thromboembolism was 4·5 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3·1–6·6, P