Acetaminophen/warfarin anticoagulation failure risk "underrecognized" -- JAMA.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
ACETAMINOPHEN ROLE IN ANTICOAGULATION FAILURE "UNDERRECOGNIZED" as it pertains to blood thinning in patients receiving warfarin therapy, Elaine Hylek, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, et al., suggest in the March 4 Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers say they observed an association between acetaminophen use and excess International Normalized Ratio (a measure of the potential for hemorrhage) that "has several important features of a causal relationship. It is strong, dose- dependent and biologically plausible, follows an appropriate temporal sequence and is supported by previous case reports and small-scale clinical experiments," Hylek et al. state. "In addition, the relationship persisted after control for a variety of potential confounders."