Health professionals are failing to inform a significant proportion of patients taking warfarin about the potential of interactions with complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) which can lead to higher rates of clotting events.
An Australian study, published in the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research, found only 24 per cent of patients taking warfarin who had presented to the emergency department at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne said they had been advised about CAM use.
The study, led by Professor David Taylor from Austin Health in Victoria, investigated CAM knowledge and use, and bleeding clotting events during the previous six months in 246 patients receiving warfarin, compared with 246 patients not taking warfarin.
The authors described CAM knowledge among patients on warfarin...
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