A new study shows that people who take the commonly used blood thinning drug warfarin may have larger amounts of bleeding in the brain and increased risk of death if they suffer a hemorrhagic stroke.
The study is published in the September 30, 2008, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Warfarin is commonly prescribed to prevent blood clotting. Studies have shown it helps prevent ischemic stroke for patients with an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. However, if the drug makes the blood too thin, it can increase the risk of brain hemorrhage, a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.
The study involved 258 people who had brain hemorrhage, 51 of whom were taking warfarin. Participants were 69 years old on average and lived in or near Cincinnati. The group underwent brain scans to confirm the type of stroke. The brain scans were used to measure the size of the blood clots.
The study found that people who took warfarin and suffered a brain hemorrhage while their international normalized ratio (INR) was above three had about twice as much initial bleeding as those not taking warfarin. However, this effect was not seen in people whose blood was less likely to clot as determined by an INR of less than three. An INR test measures the blood's ability to clot.
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