Daily vitamin K supplementation improves anticoagulant stability

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Clinical Medicine
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Vitamin K intake variability is a key factor in unstable anticoagulant therapy.
• Lower dietary vitamin K is linked to poorer anticoagulant control in patients using vitamin K antagonists.
• Optimizing vitamin K intake may improve therapeutic outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of low-dose daily vitamin K supplementation in stabilizing anticoagulant therapy.
• To determine if vitamin K supplementation improves the time International Normalized Ratio (INR) remains within the therapeutic range.

Main Methods:

• A 24-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving 200 patients on phenprocoumon.
• Participants received either adjusted-dose phenprocoumon with 100 µg vitamin K daily or phenprocoumon with a placebo.
• Primary outcome measured was the percentage of time the INR stayed within the target therapeutic range.

Main Results:

• The vitamin K group achieved 89.5% time in therapeutic range versus 85.5% in the placebo group.
• Supplementation showed a trend towards reduced time below range (2.1% vs 3.1%) and significantly reduced time above range (8.5% vs 11.4%).
• The relative risk of maximal anticoagulant stability was 1.8 times higher in the vitamin K group.

Conclusions:

• Daily supplementation with 100 µg of vitamin K enhances the stability of anticoagulant therapy.
• Improved anticoagulant stability is likely to decrease the incidence of adverse events, including bleeding and thrombotic episodes.
• Low-dose vitamin K supplementation offers a promising strategy for optimizing anticoagulation management.