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Elizabeth Sconce, Tayyaba Khan, Jennifer Mason, Faye Noble, Hilary Wynne, Farhad Kamali
Patients with unstable control have a poorer dietary intake of vitamin K compared to patients with stable control of anticoagulation
Evidence suggests that alterations in the dietary intake of vitamin K can affect anticoagulation response to warfarin. It is possible that a low and erratic intake of dietary vitamin K is at least partly responsible for the variable response to warfarin in patients with unstable control of anticoagulation. Twenty-six patients with unstable and twenty-six with stable control of anticoagulation completed dietary records of all foods and drinks consumed on a daily basis for two consecutive weeks. The mean daily intake of vitamin K in unstable patients was considerably lower than that for stable patients during the study period (2917 g v . 7640 g). The logarithm of vitamin K intake was consistently and significantly lower in the unstable patients than the stable patients over the two week period (5.90.4 g v. 6.90.5 g; p<0.001; 95% CI: 0.71.2). Changes in vitamin K intake between weeks 1 and 2 of the study were negatively correlated with changes in International Normalised Ratio (INR) amongst the unstable patients, however this failed to reach significance (r=0.25; p=0.22). Daily supplementation with oral vitamin K in unstable patients could lead to a more stable anticoagulation response to warfarin.
Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Schattauer
Print ISSN: 0340-6245
Volume: 93, 05/2005
Pages: 872 - 875