Scope: Atrial fibrillation is the most common tachyar-rhythmia in daily practice, which has a prevalence of about 2.0% in the general population. It has been found that it is important to continue to grow with global demographic changes in the elderly segment. In addition to transient thromboembolic ischemic stroke and stroke, it has been observed that atrial fibrillation may be an independent association or cognitive decline. The use of anticoagulant drugs in the treatment and prophylaxis of arterio-venous thrombotic phenomena is constantly increasing. Frequently, the fear of a hemorrhagic episode leads to not recommending anticoagulant treatment or unmotivated cessation of anticoagulant treatment near invasive maneuvers, with hemorrhagic potential. The bleeding risk is directly proportional to the intensity of the anticoagulation.

Methods: The main aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the level of information of patients with atrial fibrillation on oral anticoagulant treatment. The secondary objective was to identify risk factors for frequent complications of treatment. The study gathe-red information on socio-demographic conditions and level of education, to determine their influence on the incidence of non-compliance with indications and complications during specific treatment. The study was conducted in the 3rd Medical Clinic, “Sf. Spiridon” County Clinical Emergency Hospital Iasi, between December 2017 – August 2018 and included 155 patients with atrial fibrillation, men and women, aged between 36-89 years.

Results: Depending on the type of anticoagulant treat-ment accepted, it was observed that acenocoumarol was preferred by patients in rural areas, most likely due to the lower cost, while people in urban areas used apixaban. The evaluation according to the HAS-BLED score indicated that 74.83% of the respondents had a HAS-BLED score ≥ 3 points, three quarters being over 65 years old. Only 64.8% of patients receiving oral an-ticoagulant therapy were aware of the possible bleeding complications associated with therapy.

Conclusions: The study addresses one of the most im-portant aspects of atrial fibrillation management and antithrombotic therapy, including questions related to the management of possible situations in anticoagu-lated patients. Anticoagulant therapy is a constantly evolving medical field. Antithrombotic treatment should be performed according to current guidelines, and the benefit/risk ratio is assessed for each patient. Hemorrhagic risk dominates the clinician’s logic in the anticoagulant therapeutic approach to the detriment of the potential benefit.