Economic Evaluation of the Combined Use of Warfarin and Low-dose Aspirin Versus Warfarin Alone in Mechanical Valve Prostheses

Abstract

The use of combined therapy of antiplatelet and anticoagulant versus anticoagulant alone to reduce instances of thromboembolic events in patients with heart valve prostheses is an established standard of care in many countries but not in Egypt. A previous Markov model cost-effectiveness study on Egyptian patients aged 50-60 years demonstrated that the combined therapy reduces the overall treatment cost. However, due to the lack of actual real-world data on cost-effectiveness and the limitation of the Markov model study to 50- to 60-year-old patients, the Egyptian medical community is still questioning whether the added benefit is worth the cost.