Study Finds Patients with A-fib at Higher Dementia Risk

In a new study conducted by the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, researchers found that atrial fibrillation patients who are on blood thinning medications are at higher risk of developing dementia if their doses are not in the optimal recommended range. The study of more than 2,600 A-fib patients found they are significantly more likely to develop dementia when using medicines to prevent blood clots, such as warfarin, when their dosing is too high or too low for an extended period of time. “Most patients who develop atrial fibrillation require the use of an anticoagulant to prevent a stroke. The most common anticoagulant used worldwide is warfarin, and we now know that if warfarin doses are consistently too high or too low, one of the long-term consequences can be brain damage,” said the director of electrophysiology research at Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute. “This points to the possibility that dementia in atrial fibrillation patients is partly due to small repetitive clots and/or bleeds in the brain.” To read more about this study, click here.