Atrial fibrillation (AF) elevates the risk of thromboembolic events, and oral anticoagulants (OACs) substantially reduce that risk. Safe and effective anticoagulant therapy depends not only on prescription but also on patient understanding of the condition and the medication. The study aimed to assess AF- and OAC-related awareness among Turkish patients and to identify predictors of patient knowledge.
This was a single-center, cross-sectional survey conducted between July 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025. Consecutive adults with non-valvular AF who had been receiving either warfarin or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for at least three months were included. The investigators used a structured questionnaire to collect data on demographics, comorbidities, current medications, self-reported adherence, and knowledge across six domains: the arrhythmia name, the indication for treatment, dosing schedule, side effects, drug–drug interactions, food interactions, and consequences of dose modification. A composite knowledge score ranging from 0 to 6 was calculated. Multivariable linear regression evaluated predictors of knowledge, including age, sex, and education level. Ethics approval was obtained and all participants provided written informed consent.
A total of 261 patients were enrolled. The median age was 67 years and 50.2% of the cohort were women. Common comorbidities included hypertension (64.8%) and diabetes mellitus (32.2%). Regarding anticoagulant therapy, 72.4% of patients were prescribed DOACs while 27.6% were on warfarin. Although more than one-third of participants (36%) had AF for longer than six years, most patients demonstrated limited disease-specific knowledge.
Knowledge varied markedly across assessed domains. Only 16.5% of patients could correctly name their arrhythmia. While 92% recognized they were taking an anticoagulant, 24% misunderstood the indication for that therapy. Awareness of adverse effects and interactions was low: 68% reported no knowledge of side effects, 88% reported no knowledge of drug–drug interactions, and 71% were unaware of food interactions. The mean composite knowledge score was 2.8 ± 1.3 on a 0–6 scale. Internal consistency for the knowledge instrument was reported as Cronbach's alpha = 0.50.
Self-reported adherence was high: 94% of participants stated they 'always' took their anticoagulant and an additional 4% reported they 'often' did. Most patients (92.3%) knew their dosing schedule and nearly all (99.6%) stated they would not double a missed dose. The study reported an association between taking medication with meals and better adherence (statistic reported in the source, P < 0.001).
In multivariable analysis, higher educational attainment and female sex were associated with greater knowledge about AF and anticoagulant therapy. Age showed an inverse relationship with knowledge: older patients tended to score lower on the composite knowledge measure. The abstract reports these associations but does not provide the full regression coefficients or detailed model metrics in the text provided.
Despite high self-reported adherence and awareness that an anticoagulant was being taken, substantial gaps existed in patient knowledge about the name of the arrhythmia, the indication for therapy in a minority, and especially in understanding of side effects and both drug–drug and food interactions. The authors recommend targeted, health-literacy-sensitive educational strategies to address these gaps and potentially improve medication safety and clinical outcomes in patients receiving anticoagulation for AF.
The abstract specifies study dates, inclusion criteria, sample size, key outcome measures, and that ethics approval and written informed consent were obtained. The published abstract supplies the mean knowledge score and Cronbach's alpha but does not present full regression coefficients, detailed recruitment setting beyond being single-center, or a formal limitations section in the text provided here. Any additional methodological details and study limitations would be found in the full text but were not reported in the abstract supplied as the source.