Digoxin is a medication frequently used to treat atrial fibrillation — a common heart rhythm disorder linked to blood clots and stroke. While the medication can be used to treat heart failure, the drug is no longer the preferred treatment for the condition as it has been linked to an increased risk of death among patients.
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To assess the safety of digoxin in regards to atrial fibrillation, researchers analyzed data on 17,897 cardiac patients with evidence of digoxin use. Their analysis revealed that for every 0.5 ng/ml increase of digoxin in the blood, the risk of sudden death rose by 19 percent. Patients displaying digoxin levels greater than 1.2 ng/ml experienced a 56 percent rise in the risk of sudden death. Most sudden deaths occurred within six months after patients began treatment. Approximately 6,693 patients had experienced heart failure prior to the beginning of the trial.
“We showed that starting digoxin was associated with increased risk of death and sudden death, regardless of the presence of heart failure,” said Renato Lopes, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and lead author of the study. “Thus, based on our findings, avoiding digoxin in patients with AFib — irrespective of the presence of heart failure — seems to be the right approach.”
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