Introduction:

Heparins are essential for the management of many patients in inpatient services.

Objective.

To determine the prescribing patterns of heparins in hospitals in a group of patients of Colombia.

Methods.

An observational study with data of prescriptions of patients treated with heparins in 14 hospitals in 12 cities of Colombia during October 2015. Sociodemographic, pharmacological, combined therapy, and co-medication variables were evaluated. Descriptive and multivariate analyzes were performed.

Results.

A total of 3776 patients on heparin treatment were found; mean age: 60.1±20.1 years, 56.9 % were women; with a prevalence of 9.1 %; a mean of 6.3 doses per patient was used. Enoxaparin (74.8 %) and dalteparin (24.9 %) being the most used injecting anticoagulants. Dual antiplatelet therapy was prescribed in 34.1 % of cases, and the most frequent co-medications were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (28.9 %), benzodiazepines (14.6 %). The use of dalteparin, have been treated in Cartagena, Barranquilla and being a young adult, reduced the risk of receiving some co-medication.

Conclusion.

The use of low-molecular-weight-heparins is predominant without the use of conventional heparins in clinics, which may be associated with their easy use, less side effects and greater cost-effectiveness, making them more convenient for intra-hospital use.

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