Study spells out warfarin brain-bleed risks

Newly flagged risk factors may place elderly patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) starting on warfarin at greater risk of traumatic intracranial bleeding than previously believed, researchers say.

Dementia, anaemia, depression, anticonvulsant use and an unstable INR are among the risk factors researchers identified for intracranial bleeds, most likely from falls, in their large study of US veterans.