/p>Aware that some of the main risk factors for atrial fibrillation are the consequence of very common problems among the adult population such as obesity and high blood pressurefrom the signature Bayern recalls the importance of anticoagulated patients lead a healthy lifestyle regimenbased on a balanced diet, moderate physical exercise on a regular basis and adequate controls to avoid suffering complications either a stroke or bleeding.
To this we must add that a 9.3% of anticoagulated patients acknowledge that they do not always strictly comply with anticoagulant treatment, sometimes forgetting the prescribed medication, as warned by the Spanish Federation of Anticoagulated Associations (). Also, close to 40% of patients do not achieve correct control of their INRand therefore the treatment does not have the desired effect of preventing stroke, the first cause of death in women in Spain and the second in the population as a whole.
In fact, every 15 minutes a person in Spain dies from a stroke. These data highlight the need to promote initiatives to explain and update the population on the importance of following a good anticoagulant treatment, in addition to a healthy life.
As the doctor says Bartolome Beltranmember of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Health, “for a person with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation who is taking a vitamin K antagonist, the INR must be between 2 and 3. Otherwise, the patient would be at risk of suffering complications such as stroke or bleeding..
These specialists emphasize the importance of “correct preventive treatment” of the patient with anticoagulants that help “prevent or treat serious diseases and potentially life-threatening situations”such as the formation of thrombi that can cause strokes.
He anticoagulant treatment It is indicated for patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation, which causes the heart rhythm to suffer an obvious lack of control with sudden oscillations of the pulse and favors the formation of clots that can detach and produce distant embolisms (in the brain, kidney or lower limbs).
In this sense, it is the doctor who can best inform about the appropriate treatment, but it is convenient to know that there are basically two types of blood thinners that can be prescribed by a specialist: “the traditional treatments that exert their anticoagulant action indirectly and whose effect must be monitored periodically by controlling the INR, and those others direct-acting oral anticoagulants that exert an inhibitory effect on a key coagulation factor and, in addition, are taken in fixed doses without the need for periodic controls”as the doctor says jose louis palmcardiologist and vice president of the .
Dr. Palma points out that the role of anticoagulant treatment is to make the blood more fluid, therefore avoiding the formation of clots or preventing their growth, for this it is important to maintain good control. It also explains that, in addition to obesity and high blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol and stimulant abuse, or emotional and physical stress “they are other risk factors, in addition to atrial fibrillation”.
In Spain, more than 800,000 people receive anticoagulant treatment. But this does not mean that these patients know the risks of not reaching adequate levels or the alternatives that exist to ensure good control. In this sense, the specialists at remember the importance of asking the doctor or nurse when good control is not achieved in order to find out about therapeutic alternatives, since changes in INR control can increase the risk of suffering a stroke.
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