Nearly 1 in 5 people in hospital for 'fainting' have a pulmonary embolus That prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, has produced a cool video that makes a complex medical article, about syncope (a 'faint') and pulmonary embolism, easy (or at least easier!) to understand. Making sense of medical journals could never be described as 'light … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – why it doesn’t matter if you failed the OAK test!
Over the last 3 days we've covered The Oral Anticoagulation Knowledge (OAK) Test © Zeolla MM, Brodeur MR, Dominelli A, Haines ST, Allie N. (Q 1-7, Q 8-14, Q 15-20 ). We mentioned that while the pass mark is 15/20 the average mark was 12/20 and 64% of people failed. If you were among those who failed, take heart at the findings from today's medical journal article which … [Read more...]
Two reasons why you should know your clot risk
Two important findings from a medical journal show that if you have a high risk of blood clots you should maintain a heart healthy lifestyle This is obviously good advice for everyone but when you read some of the statistics from the article it will emphasis the importance if you're at high clot risk. The risk of having a PE was 2.9 times higher in obese women than those … [Read more...]
More good news about stroke and warfarin
You probably already know that if you have atrial fibrillation (AF), then taking warfarin means you have a lower risk of stroke. But did you know there are two other benefits? If you have AF and you're taking warfarin, but are still unlucky enough to have an ischaemic stroke, then compared to people not on warfarin: - You are likely to have milder effects … [Read more...]
Could too much TV kill you?
A Japanese study, just published in the journal 'Circulation', has shown that the risk of dying from pulmonary embolism increases with the more TV you watch. What kind of study was it? It was a 'prospective cohort' study which means following a group of people over many years to see what happens. This is considered superior (although it's much more expensive) to the commoner … [Read more...]
Medical Journal – AF – How many pills?
Researchers looked at 18,201 people with atrial fibrillation, AF, and found the average number of drugs each person took was six, with 76.5% of people taking six or more drugs. Most of these drugs are not for their AF but for their other medical conditions. More than three quarters of patients with AF take six or more drugs. This is a worrying finding, as polypharmacy … [Read more...]
Medical Journal -Sexism in AF treatment?
A major problem for people with AF is that they are not put on anticoagulants when they should be. But the study we’re looking at today shows it is even worse for women: Women are 1.8 times as likely to be undertreated for AF as men. Where’s the study from? It's a recently published study (May 2016) from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society by Mark … [Read more...]
Evidence for Compression Stockings – advice that’s hard to take
Paul had written about the importance of flight socks on long flights but then didn’t wear them himself because he found them so uncomfortable: Between flights, in an airport toilet, I actually broke a toilet seat cover because of the weird manoeuvring I was doing while having difficulty squeezing flight socks onto my already swollen feet: And yet, I just took it for granted … [Read more...]
What’s the commonest reason for taking warfarin?
Atrial fibrillation, AF is the commonest reason for taking warfarin. Today we will be talking about AF and a study from a medical journal of the trends over the past 50 years. So what is AF? AF is a disorder of heart rhythm. In a normal beat, the atria contract first, (shown by the purple arrow as the p-wave on the ECG below) leading to a regular contraction of the … [Read more...]
Stopping anticoagulants – 5 life-threatening excuses
Around 30% of people started on a long-term anticoagulant have stopped taking it by three months. This is not merely missing a few tablets or reaching the end of the time you needed anticoagulants for, but deliberately stopping while you’re meant to be taking them. And of course once people are no longer anticoagulated they’re at risk of a life-threatening stroke (if they have … [Read more...]