One of the concerns that people often have about the blood thinner Warfarin is whether or not it will become a problem for patients with kidney disease. However, a recent study indicates that Warfarin does not, in fact, worsen outcomes for these patients.
In fact, it looks like patients with kidney disease actually do a little better on Warfarin.
About 52 percent of patients had moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) or worse. The researchers found that warfarin treatment was associated with a lower l-year risk of a composite of the outcomes of death, heart attack, and ischemic stroke without a higher risk of bleeding.
Obviously Warfarin comes with some risks no matter who you are, but at least kidney patients can rest easy that their condition doesn’t seem to matter one way or another to the kinds of outcomes they can expect to enjoy.
The study was recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
If you are a kidney disease patient who has avoided anti-coagulants based on the perception of risk then it might be time to have another conversation with your doctor. Bring a copy of the study – doctors don’t always have time to keep up with every single advance and yours might not have heard about this one yet.
What are your thoughts on this study? I’d especially like to hear from people who have both a-fib and kidney disease. Does it make you more confident about taking Warfarin? And if you aren’t taking Warfarin right now, what kind of treatments have you been using in the meantime?
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