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Anticoagulation
"It's About Time" Campaign Raises Awareness
A new public awareness campaign is currently underway following research results that showed
75% of anticoagulation patients do not know their drug is used to prevent blood clots. "It's About Time"
is a new campaign led by AntiCoagulation Europe and a Taskforce of key international physicians and
healthcare professionals, which aims to promote greater understanding of thrombosis and stroke
prevention and ultimately to help raise standards of care.
The "It's About Time" patient survey, by providing patients' insight into their treatment, will
complement the Euro Heart Survey on Atrial Fibrillation (AF) - irregular heartbeat - of the
European Society of Cardiology (ESC), which is a survey conducted by the ESC amongst cardiologists in
35 countries to identify attitudes towards, and opinions of, the management of anticoagulation in AF.
Bringing together the results of these surveys will help to improve understanding of anticoagulation and
its management from both a physicians' and patients' viewpoint.
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Atrial fibrillation occurs in around one in twenty-five adults over sixty years of
age and more than one in ten adults over eighty years old. Patients with AF experience
a six-fold increased risk of stroke compared with those with a normal heartbeat and,
as a result, across 22 European countries with a combined population of 500 million,
there are almost one million strokes each year, making it the second leading cause of
death worldwide.
Of patients questioned in the "It's About Time" survey, 66% reported having to attend
blood-monitoring sessions, typically at a hospital or clinic, at least once a month for
the entire duration they had received therapy - which had been an average of six years,
with one in ten patients having received treatment for fifteen years or longer. Patients
also reported that their monitoring had a negative impact on their ability to hold down a
job, go on holiday and spend time with their families.
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