Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies
| Author | Design | Indication of VKA | No. of patients | Anticoagulation management | Type of heparin | Follow‐up time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wysokinski et al, 2008 10 | Cohort, prospective | non‐valvular Af |
B: 204 I: 182 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management |
UFH or LMWH | 90 days |
| Garcia et al, 2008 11 | Cohort, prospective | Af, venous thromboembolism, mechanical heart valve |
B: 108 I: 1185 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Bajkin et al, 2009 12 | RCT | miscellaneous |
B: 105 C: 109 |
B: VKA withheld with bridging management C: VKA continued |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Tischenko et al, 2009 13 | Cohort, prospective | Af, mechanical heart valve, recent venous thromboembolism |
B: 38 C: 117 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management C: warfarin continued |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Tolosana et al, 2009 14 | RCT | miscellaneous |
B: 51 C: 50 |
B: VKA withheld with bridging management C: VKA continued |
UFH | 45 days |
| Daniels et al, 2009 15 | Cohort, prospective | mechanical heart valve |
B: 342 I + C: 213 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I + C: warfarin withheld without bridging management or warfarin continued |
UFH or LMWH | 90 days |
| McBane et al, 2010 16 | Cohort, retrospective | VTE under chronic anticoagulation therapy |
B: 514 I + C: 261 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I + C: warfarin withheld without bridging management or warfarin therapy continued |
LMWH | 90 days |
| Ahmed et al, 2010 17 | Cohort, retrospective | Af, mechanical heart valve, DVT, left ventricular thrombus |
B: 123 I: 114 C: 222 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management C: warfarin continued |
UFH or LMWH | 8 weeks |
| Cheng et al, 2011 18 | RCT | miscellaneous |
B: 7 I: 43 C: 50 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management C: warfarin continued |
UFH or LMWH | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Li et al, 2011 19 | Cohort, retrospective | miscellaneous |
B: 199 I: 243 C: 324 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management C: warfarin continued |
UFH or LMWH | 30 days |
| Birnie et al, 2013 20 | RCT | miscellaneous (risk of thromboembolism >5%) |
B: 325 C: 334 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management C: warfarin continued |
UFH or LMWH | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Yokoshiki et al, 2013 21 | Cohort, retrospective | Af, left ventricular thrombus, and mechanical heart valve |
B: 34 I: 59 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management |
UFH | 30 days |
| Sherwood et al, 2014 22 | Cohort, prospective | non‐valvular Af and ≥ 2 stroke risk factors |
B: 483 I: 7072 |
B: VKA withheld with bridging management I: VKA withheld without bridging management |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Schulman et al, 2014 23 | RCT | Af, mechanical heart valve, left ventricular thrombus, VTE |
B: 85 C: 86 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management C: warfarin continued (reduced dose) |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Steinberg et al, 2015 24 | Cohort, prospective | Af |
B: 514 I: 1766 |
B: VKA or NOACs withheld with bridging management I: VKA or NOACs withheld without bridging management |
UFH or LMWH | 30 days |
| Douketis (A) et al, 2015 25 | RCT | non‐valvular Af and at least one of the CHADS2 risk factors |
B: 934 I: 950 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management |
LMWH | 30 days |
| Douketis (B) et al, 2015 26 | Cohort, prospective | non‐valvular Af and ≥1 stroke risk factors |
B: 800 I: 3306 |
B: warfarin or NOACs withheld with bridging management I: warfarin or NOACs withheld without bridging management |
UFH or LMWH | 30 days |
| Clark et al, 2015 27 | Cohort, retrospective | chronic warfarin therapy for secondary prevention of VTE |
B: 555 I: 1257 |
B: warfarin withheld with bridging management I: warfarin withheld without bridging management |
UFH or LMWH | 30 days |
Af, atrial fibrillation; B, bridged group; C, continued group; DVT, deep vein thrombosis; I, interrupted group; LMWH, low molecular weight heparin; NOACs, novel oral anticoagulants; RCT, randomized controlled trial; UFH, unfractionated heparin; VKA, vitamin K antagonist; VTE, venous thromboembolism.