2.4 Outcome measures
The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with one or more
interventions suggested by the ASP. An intervention was defined as an
advice from a member of the ASP which was given to the treating
physician to optimize the antithrombotic therapy. Secondarily, reasons
for intervention were explored and detailed information of the
intervention were also collected (
For the safety outcome, we described the proportion of bleeding events,
thromboembolic complications and death. Bleeding and thromboembolic
complications were defined as an event that occurred at admission, a new
event during hospitalization or within 30 days after discharge.
Moreover, mortality was defined if it occurred during hospitalization or
within 30 days after discharge.
2.5
Analysis
All data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM, New York,
USA). Descriptive statistics were used to describe patient
characteristics and outcomes. All normally distributed continuous
variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Non-normal
variables were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges (IQR) and
tested for statistical significance between groups using the
Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical variables were displayed as
frequencies and percentages per category and were tested for differences
between groups with the Chi-square test. A p-value of <0.05
was considered to be statistically significant.
In total three subgroup analyses were performed. The first subgroup
analysis compared the type of antithrombotic therapy (DAT versusTAT). Also, results are separately assessed for the subgroup of patients
based on the initiation of antithrombotic therapy (initiation during
current hospitalization versus initiation before current
hospitalization). Lastly, a subgroup analysis was performed by using a
combination of type of antithrombotic therapy and initiation of
antithrombotic therapy. The last subgroup analysis was used to identify
the group of patients who had the most complications.