Open Access

Wolfgang Mayr, Lana Kempkens, Christoph Härtl, Sabine Haberl, Jakob Linseisen, Inge Kirchberger, Christa Meisinger, Thomas M. Berghaus

• Background Oral anticoagulation (OAC) therapy is essential to avoid venous thromboembolism recurrence, but drug-adherence sometimes might be poor. Aim To describe OAC adherence in patients after acute pulmonary embolism (PE) and to identify risk factors for non-adherence. Methods We prospectively evaluated 324 PE patients (mean age 62.9 ± 14.3, 51.5% male) after 3, 6, 12 and 24 months, resulting in 1620 study visits. Data were analyzed using multivariable logistic models. Results Out of the study population, 19 patients (5.9%) were identified to be non-adherent to OAC therapy. Significant predictors of non-adherence were a history of stroke and diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR = 6.07, 95% CI 1.58-23.36, P = .027 and OR = 3.46, 95% CI 1.15-10.40, P = .009, respectively). Conclusion The adherence rate to OAC is quite high in patients after acute PE, but patients with DM and a history of stroke should be focused on in order to further improve OAC adherence.