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Study: Oral anticoagulant therapy does not increase mortality risk in hemodialysis patients
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Oral anticoagulant therapy with warfarin does not increase the mortality risk for hemodialysis patients with atrial fibrillation, according to a study published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.
According to the study, conducted by Nephrologists in Italy, warfarin seems to be associated with a better survival, while antiplatelet therapy was associated with increased mortality.
The researchers followed for two years 134 patients who were taking warfarin and 156 who were not from 10 Italian hemodialysis centers. Patients who continued taking warfarin had a larger survival rate than that of patients who stopped taking warfarin. Warfarin did not decrease the incidence of ischaemic stroke, and it did increase the incidence of bleeding. -by Rebecca Zumoff