New anticoagulant reduces risk of major bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation by 34% according to results of a study published in the British Medical Journal.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK conducted a study to compare the effects of 4 drugs, warfarin, apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban. Warfarin, the oldest of the treatments, has been prescribed for decades to fight against the formation of blood clots that cause stroke, from heart attack or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
These drugs are also used in patients with an unstable heart rhythm or atrial fibrillation. These anticoagulants cause bleeding in the stomach or brain.
The researchers analyzed the medical data of 196,061 patients who were treated with one of the anticoagulants between 2011 and 2016, in particular those causing side effects and adverse reactions including major bleeding requiring hospitalization, stroke, DVT or death.
With apixaban, the number of bleeds is reduced
The results of the study showed that:
half of the patients treated were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF).
Volunteers taking warfarin are at greater risk of severe bleeding than those taking apixaban;
Indeed, warfarin caused 26.54 to 30.29 major bleeds / 1,000 people and / year;
and apixaban 16.62 to 22.29 (depending on the database analyzed) major bleeding / 1,000 people and / year.
“There is a 34% decrease in the risk of major bleeding in people with AF and a 40% decrease in patients without AF, who take the anticoagulant apixaban,” concluded Yana Vinogradova, author of the study. .
Read also :
Men and women are not equal when it comes to atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of stroke
Atrial fibrillation: a heart monitor connected to a smartphone
