Vitamin K Antagonists–Associated Cerebral Hemorrhages

Abstract

Background and Purpose—The high prevalence of atrial fibrillation in aging populations leads to an increasing incidence of vitamin K antagonists-associated intracerebral hemorrhages (VKAs-ICH). It remains unclear whether VKAs are causes or risk factors for ICH. We aimed at identifying the specificities of VKAs-ICH. Methods—We compared baseline characteristics of 545 consecutive patients receiving or not receiving VKAs before admission for spontaneous ICH. To determine whether the influence of VKAs depends on the underlying vasculopathy, that is, cerebral amyloid angiopathy in lobar, and deep perforating arteries vasculopathy in deep ICH, we compared characteristics of ICH (including volume) according to the anatomic distribution of ICH in multiple linear regression. Results—VKAs-ICH accounted for 83 patients, that is, 15% (95% confidence intervals, 12–18) of ICH in our cohort. The use of VKAs did not influence anatomic distribution of ICH. The impact of VKAs on ICH volume differed according to ICH locatio...