Renal Disease May Increase Stroke Risk In Afib Patients.

MedPage Today  (8/17, Neale) reports, "Renal disease increases the already elevated risk of stroke or systemic thromboembolism that accompanies nonvalvular atrial fibrillation," according to a study  published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Investigators found that, "among patients hospitalized with atrial fibrillation, those with either non-end-stage or end-stage chronic kidney disease had significantly higher rates of stroke or systemic embolism compared with patients free from renal disease (6.44 and 5.61 versus 3.61 per 100 person-years)." The researchers reported that "warfarin therapy was associated with decreased risks in the overall cohort (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.62) and among those with end-stage renal disease (HR 0.44, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.74), but the reduction did not reach statistical significance for those with non-end-stage chronic kidney disease (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.01)."