Abstract

ZUCHINALI, P. et al. Dietary vitamin K intake and stability of anticoagulation with coumarins: evidence derived from a clinical trial. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2012, vol.27, n.6, pp.1987-1992. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2012.27.6.6068.

Background: Dietary vitamin K intake has been considered a major factor that influences stability of oral anticoagulation (OA) with coumarins. Few studies have evaluated the relationship between amounts of dietary vitamin K intake and stability of anticoagulation. Objective: To assess whether high dietary vitamin K intake is associated to stability of International Normalized Ratio (INR) of the prothrombin time. Methods: We performed a sub-analysis of a randomized clinical trial involving outpatients from the anticoagulation clinic of a university hospital. INR and vitamin K intake were prospectively collected at baseline, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days after randomization. Patients were considered with a stable anticoagulation when their INR coefficient of variation was less than 10%. Dietary vitamin K intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnair and a score of intake was derived. Results: We studied 132 patients on chronic OA (57 ± 13 years; 55% males); 23 patients (17%) were achieved stable anticoagulation. Stable and unstable patients had no significant differences in baseline characteristics. The dietary vitamin K score over the entire follow-up for stable patients was significantly lower than that for unstable patients (p = 0.012). Discussion: Our findings suggest that INR stability could be achieved with relatively low amounts of dietary vitamin K.

Keywords : Vitamin K; Warfarin; Food consumption; Anticoagulants; Coumarin.

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