New Zealand researchers aim to boost use of blood thinners

New research from New Zealand has found that the risks of blood thinning medication are overemphasised, and much more could be achieved with them when it comes to strokes caused by the heart condition called Atrial Fibrillation or simply AF.

The research, led by University of Otago - Wellington researchers, found that one third of New Zealand patients are not being prescribed or taking the medication, despite it being described by the team as one of the most useful tools in preventing stroke.

“Anticoagulation medication has been presented as a big scary risk but, in our research, we found almost no difference in brain bleed rates between those who don’t and those who do take blood thinners,” says first author Syrah Ranta.

Ms Ranta and her research team have been tracking patterns in use of anticoagulation medication in New Zealand to determine why people are not receiving or taking the medication and if ethnicity and rural status play a role.

They found that, across the board, prior bleeding (often minor) and patient choice, most likely due to the fear of blood thinners causing a serious brain bleed, were two of the biggest reasons for patients not to take the medication.

Ms Ranta says blood thinners or ‘anticoagulation medication’ can reduce the risk of a devastating stroke from Atrial Fibrillation by two thirds which she says is a much greater reduction in stroke risk that any kind of serious medication-related bleeding risk. She hopes her research will encourage more anticoagulation prescriptions.

“If we can encourage more doctors to prescribe and more patients with AF to take blood thinning medications it could have a really great impact on reducing the number or strokes in New Zealand because AF, as a health condition, increases the risk of stroke by five times and so it is a very large risk factor for stroke and blood thinners, can so massively decrease that risk.”

Ms Ranta’s research will be showcased at the combined Stroke Society of Australasia and Smart Strokes Nursing and Allied Health Scientific Meeting this week which will be attended by Australian and New Zealand stroke experts.