Frail Heart Patients at High Risk for Bleeding

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Older heart attack patients who are frail are at increased risk for bleeding when being treated, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 129,000 heart attack patients older than 65 who were treated at 775 U.S. hospitals between early 2015 and late 2016.

Those who were frail had a 50 percent higher risk of major bleeding than non-frail patients. These frail heart patients were also more likely to be female. The increased risk was in frail patients who underwent cardiac catheterization, but not in those who received blood-thinning drugs alone.

The study was published Nov. 19 in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

“As the U.S. population ages, there is an increasing number of older people who are experiencing [heart attack] — and often they are managing other health problems at the same time,” said study author Dr. John Dodson, a cardiologist from New York University School of Medicine.

“Our findings highlight that frailty is an important variable to consider when managing these patients, beyond the characteristics we traditionally use. We need to look even more closely at evidenced-based clinical strategies to avoid bleeding in this population,” Dodson added in a journal news release.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on heart attack.

Source: HealthDay

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