Chronic Kidney Disease Predicts Risk for Thromboembolism in Patients with Afib

Chronic kidney disease is an independent predictor of incident thromboembolism among patients with atrial fibrillation, according to a Circulation study published online.

06 mar 2009--Researchers examined data from a U.S. healthcare system on some 11,000 adults with nonvalvular afib and no previous kidney transplant. During roughly 33,000 person-years of follow-up, nearly 700 thromboembolic events occurred while patients were off anticoagulation.

In adjusted analyses, thromboembolism was significantly more common both among patients with reduced estimated glomerular filtration rates than among those with the highest eGFRs (hazard ratio, 1.4), and among those with proteinuria than among those with normal urine tests (HR, 1.5).

The authors say their study suggests that eGFR and proteinuria should be assessed in patients with afib in order to help "improve risk stratification and decision making about the use of antithrombotic therapy to prevent stroke."

LINK(S):

Circulation article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)