Could Warfarin Reduce Dementia Risk in Patients with AF?

Warfarin treatment for the prevention of strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) may also reduce their risk of developing dementia, according to a recent study.

For their study, researchers followed 1860 patients with AF using diagnostic codes to identify incident dementia at least 6 months after initial diagnosis of AF.
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Among 1469 patients with CHA2DS2-VASc score of 2 or greater, 47% were currently taking warfarin, which researchers noted as undertreatment.

Patients taking warfarin were more likely to be male, have hypertension, have experienced stroke, or experienced a cerebrovascular accident.

Overall, 10.6% of patients developed dementia, and warfarin therapy was associated with a 34% lower risk of dementia than those not taking the anticoagulant (21.8 cases per 100 vs. 27.7 cases per 100, respectively).

The reason for this relationship is still unknown, but researchers suggested that the prevention of silent cerebral embolism in patients on warfarin therapy may be responsible.

Further study is needed to verify the cause-effect relationship between AF, dementia, and anticoagulation, they noted.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Hu T, Madhavan M, Gersh BJ, et al. Warfarin therapy is associated with lower risk of dementia in patients with incident atrial fibrillation in a community based cohort. Paper presented at: ESC Congress 365. London, United Kingdom.