Nonhemostatic adverse effects of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents.

The topic of adverse effects of drugs is now receiving due attention in both the lay and medical communities. For drugs of the coagulation disorder class, such as anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents, the obvious adverse effects are bleeding from a dose too high and thrombosis from a dose too low. However, these drugs have other potential adverse effects that are not directly related to blood coagulation, yet cannot be dismissed due to their medical importance. There has been a recent advancement of several new drugs in this category and this number will soon grow as more drugs are reaching the end of their clinical trials. This article will discuss the nonhemostatic adverse effects of anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs. As the adverse effects of bleeding and thrombosis will be excluded, this article will be in contrast to the typical discussions on the anticoagulant and antiplatelet drug classes.