More than 80pc of stroke victims not on anticoagulation

[dmac4646]

very poor show.

webmd.com/heart-disease/atr...

[jennydog]

Whilst I was in hospital recently it was necessary for them to order some Pradaxa/dabigatran for me. Apparently the cost of medication is flagged up during the ordering process. They expressed some amazement at Pradaxa's cost -. £58 for 56 tablets which is 28 day's supply.

Perhaps that's why not many people are on it!

[dmac4646 in reply to jennydog]

Costs of dealing with stroke far outweigh this !

[BobD Volunteer in reply to jennydog]

In fact when you factor in the cost of regular INR checks the overall difference is minimal but that is often hard to get through to those with the purse strings.

[dmac4646 in reply to BobD]

indeed -costs to the individual v.high

[Hidden in reply to BobD]

I self test so the INR clinic never see me. The health centre do supply the (very expensive) test strips but I had to buy my own coaguchek from Roche at a cost of £300

[BobD Volunteer]

AS we have been saying for many years UK is one of the worst counties in Europe for having at risk patients on anticoagulants and we could save 8000 serious strokes a year if this was addressed. Reluctance by some patients to take these life saving drugs should not be a bar and better education is always helpful. Remember that AF accounts for 80% of the least recoverable strokes which are themselves about 20% of all stroke.

[George2467814 in reply to BobD]

Hi Bob must admit when I was advised by hospital via my GP to go on Warfarin as I have a slow irreg heartbeat I was just told it would help me but no detailed explanation of the benefits/risks were given..at first I thought more tablets..no.....as was already on high BP tablets andbstatins following heart surgery but I went on Warfarin as the latest anticoagulant I was told were too expensive and at the time 3 years ago did not have a guaranteed reversing procedure? So Warfarin was the option then and I have never had any alternative suggested since. Regular monthly checks indicate I am usually close to my 2.5 target so the visits to surgery no problem.

[Finvola]

That is very sobering reading - lack of medical know-how regarding stroke risk is inexcusable.

[Dodie117]

I went to my GP last week for my annual renal function blood test. He was a doctor in the practice i had not met before. He said "was your ablation not successful then". I said it was and he asked why i was being anticoagulated. I said the advice was as i was over 65, female that i should remain on anticoagulants. He said this was not true! I tried to exp!ain but he was the type of older, male doictor one sometime meets - an arrogant know all. In the end i just said my cardiologist prescribed apixaban and i wanted to stay on it. He agreed to this so for now i let it go. I am considering sending him some literature as this is a big reason people get strokes - ignorant GPs!

[nettecologne]

Did you read this:

Xian and some co-authors on the study have received research funding from anticoagulant makers.

Makes me rather sceptical as to results. Sorry, but money does make the world go round. And they were surely not the makers of Warfarin....

If I got money for a study, would I really dare present results that say "your meds are redundant and dangerous"? No I wouldn't. I have NEVER ever come across a study funded by industry which did not contain results positive to that industry. And how to work on statistics is quite interesting, you can easily learn how to twist them to your wishes.