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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2008;300(14):1640.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Canadian researchers concluded that anticoagulation therapy remains woefully underused for the prevention of ischemic stroke in high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation can cause blood to pool or clot in the atria, and if such clots leave the heart, the risk of ischemic stroke increases.

The study was funded by the Canadian Stroke Network and conducted at the nonprofit Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science (ICES) in Toronto, Ontario. It found that of patients from a hospital-based stroke registry who were known to have atrial fibrillation (and who also were considered at high risk for developing stroke) who then experienced a first-time ischemic stroke, 90% were receiving no warfarin therapy or had been taking subtherapeutic doses of the anticoagulant (Gladstone DJ et al. Stroke. doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.108.516344 [published online ahead of print August 28, 2008]). The rate of ischemic stroke among all patients with atrial fibrillation is about 4.5% . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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