For patients requiring blood thinner drugs there is good news. The risk of bleeding, a major cause of death after a heart surgery or thrombosis in the veins, can now be assessed using a new method developed by Indian doctors.

The Genetic Bleeding Risk (GBR) score has been developed at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on the basis of genetic and non-genetic factors associated with bleeding in patients on long–term blood clotting therapy, said Risha Nahar, scientist at the hospital's Centre of Medical Genetics.

She said bleeding risk prediction scores, available at present, are mostly derived from the white population and, more importantly, none have evaluated the predictive significance of genetic risk factors so far.

The study was conducted on 310 patients from departments of vascular surgery, cardiac surgery and neurology from August 2009 to August 2012 at SGR Hospital. It took approval from the hospital's ethics board committee and was in accordance with the ethical standards of World Medical Association.

"The report shows that the number of bleeding episodes can be effectively reduced, thus sparing the patients from adverse outcomes and reducing hospital admissions," said Nahar. She added that both genetic and non-genetic factors are known to contribute towards bleeding or haemorrhage in patients on anti-coagulant therapy.