patient satisfaction, quality of life, and laboratory measures of anticoagulation
quality (percentage of time in the therapeutic
range, percentage of INR values in the therapeutic range,
and INR variability). Thromboembolic events were included
if they were designated “major” by the study or if
they were categorized as strokes, new or recurrent symptomatic
deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or
arterial embolism (Appendix Table 2, available at www
.annals.org). Major bleeding included events categorized as
major by the study or that met the ISCOAT (Italian Study
of Complications of Anticoagulant Therapy) criteria for
major bleeding (9). Only 6 trials reported cause of death