Underuse of blood thinners places very elderly at risk for stroke

Frail and elderly people with chronic atrial fibrillation -- in which the upper chambers of the heart flutter instead of keeping a steady beat --are at high risk for stroke. Yet this group is less likely to receive stroke-preventing drugs than younger patients, School of Medicine researchers have found. The researchers also discovered that warfarin, a blood thinner often sold as Coumadin¨, lowers the risk of stroke, heart attack and death by one-fourth in this population.

Atrial fibrillation allows blood to pool in the heart, promoting clotting. If a clot breaks off and enters the bloodstream, it can lodge in the brain, causing a stroke. The disorder affects about 2 million Americans and is responsible for nearly 75,000 strokes or transient ischemic attacks (mini-strokes) each year. And it becomes more common with age.

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New consortium to expedite collaborative research

By Gila Reckess

Washington University is one of five partners in the new Multicenter Academic Clinical Research Organization (MACRO), designed to improve efficiency and reduce overlapping effort among academic health-care centers across the United States.

The University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Baylor College of Medicine and Partners HealthCare System, a Massachusetts-based health-care delivery network that includes Harvard-affiliated Brigham & Women's and Massachusetts General hospitals, also are part of MACRO. This organization has been approved by the Office for Human Research Protection, a newly created federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services charged with strengthening the protection of individuals in clinical trials.

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