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Abstract

Objectives: This study sought to evalute the quality of life (QoL) among patients undergoing anticoagultaion therapy and to identify the factors impacting their health. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was undertaken with atrial fibrillation patients undergoing anticoagulation therapy. A convienience sample of 339 patients were identified at Anticoagulation Clinics of two public hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. A bilingual specific instrument; Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale (DASS) and a generic instrument; the European Quality of Life scale (EQ-5D) were used for data collection. ANOVA or t-test were used to detect the differences between continuous variables among the groups. Results: Patients on warfarin therapy showed good perception of QoL. The DASS results presented an average score of 70.8 (±19.8), EQ-5D descriptive mean average score was 0.80 (±0.26) and EQ-VAS mean score was 63.3 (±16.3). However, this perception was influenced positively by age, education level, and occupation and negatively by sex gender and previous hemorrhagic event. Conclusion: warfarin therapy is not usually associated with a significant decrease in perceived health, unless a bleeding episode has occurred.

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