According to the chief of the NHS, blood-thinning medications have saved thousands of lives in patients with heart conditions that increase their risk of stroke. About 460,000 patients in England with atrial fibrillation (AF), a dangerously erratic heart rhythm, have started using one of four anticoagulant medications that have been shown to lower their risk of stroke since January 2022. Amanda Pritchard claims that the quick introduction of the medications has saved the lives of 4,000 people who would have otherwise passed away and averted almost 17,000 strokes. In England, strokes claim the lives of roughly 27,000 individuals annually and result in about 120,000 hospital admissions. An NHS-wide drive to encourage take-up of the drugs means that 90% of the 1.5 million people in England with AF are now using them. 

Given that AF causes approximately one in five strokes, this should lead to a reduction in strokes, which are a major cause of mortality and disability. At the King's Fund health thinktank's annual conference on Thursday, NHS England chief executive Pritchard will remark, "The rapid rollout of these drugs is a monumental step forward in providing the best possible care for patients with cardiovascular disease." The medications, known as direct oral anticoagulants, assist in preventing blood clotting, which lowers the possibility that a clot would form and result in a stroke. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advised physicians to prescribe dabigatran, apixaban, rivaroxaban, and edoxaban as anticoagulants in 2021. Edoxaban is the most commonly prescribed.

Dr Maeva May, the Stroke Association’s director of policy and research, hailed the widespread use of the drugs as “fantastic news because AF accounts for one in five strokes and strokes in people with AF are more severe and are more likely to result in death or serious disability”. The right medication can prevent most AF-related strokes, she added. NHS England has used its spending power to cut deals with the makers of the four drugs, which has made them much more widely available.The British Heart Foundation praised the NHS’s “great progress towards its goal of reducing stroke deaths”.