Introduction: For decades, vitamin K antagonists were the drugs available for management of patients requiring anticoagulation therapy.The so-called new oral blood thinners, with an apparently better safety profile, have been approved for some cases; however, Colombia still lacks the information on prescription patterns for these drugs.Objetive: To determine prescription patterns of new oral blood-thinning drugs and the variables associated to their intake in a group of patients affiliated to the Colombian General Health and Social Security System (SGSSS) during 2014.Methods: Cross-sectional observational study.Patients taking dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban during the February-April 2014 quarter were selected from the database of 6.5 SGSSS affiliated members.Sociodemographic, pharmacological, co-medication (comorbidities) and economic variables were assessed.Student's t test, chi-square test and logistic regression models were used.Results: A total of 1,310 patients were administered new oral blood thinners, with a male predominance (57.2%), in single-drug therapy (88%), and an association with antiplatelet drugs was present in 10.5% of the cases.The most commonly prescribed medication was rivaroxaban (52.9%).The cost per 1,000 people/day of dabigatran COL $ 334.6, of rivaroxaban COL $ 930.7 and apixaban COL $ 32.6.49.1% of the patients had a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.Conclusions: Rivaroxaban was the medication with the greater cost.Based on these patterns it can be determines that the new oral blood-thinning drugs are being used mainly as a single-drug therapy.More studies assessing the efficacy and safety profile in Colombian population need to be conducted.