Skip to main content

Cardiovascular Side Effects Of Painkillers - Pain Killers And Heart Risk Research -

side-effects-of-pain-killers



Painkillers have made life easier and comfortable in old age. Every type of pain goes away by using a single dose of potent painkiller. Painkillers are available as Over the counter Drug and have been used widely without any prescription. But recent Study Linked excessive painkiller use to higher heart attack and stroke risks. Common painkillers such as ibuprofen and diclofenac as well as branded pain drugs from Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc and Novartis AG can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes
Details Of Study:
Scientists from Bern University in Switzerland analyzed data from 31 trials involving more than 116,000 patients taking either naproxen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, Pfizer's Celebrex, or celecoxib, Merck's Arcoxia, or etoricoxib, Merck's Vioxx, or rofecoxib, Novartis' Prexige, or lumiracoxib, or a placebo, to try to give an estimate of the heart risks of such medicines.

The drugs studied included traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) as well as new generation anti-inflammatory medicines known as COX-2 inhibitors.

While the absolute risk of cardiovascular problems among people taking painkillers was low, the researchers found that relative to placebo the drugs did carry "important risks."

Reporting their findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the scientists said that compared with a placebo or dummy pill, rofecoxib and lumiracoxib were associated with twice the risk of heart attack, while ibuprofen was associated with more than three times the risk of stroke.

Merck's Arcoxia and the generic drug diclofenac were linked with around four times the risk of cardiovascular death.
"Although uncertainty remains, little evidence exists to suggest that any of the investigated drugs are safe in cardiovascular terms," said Peter Juni of Bern University's Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, who led the study.
Overall, the number of heart attacks and strokes reported was low compared with the large number of patients. Data from 29 of the trials showed there were 554 heart attacks in total, and stroke data from 26 trials showed there were 377 strokes. Death figures were available from 28 trials and showed a total of 676.

But Juni said the findings suggested doctors should ensure they take potential cardiovascular risk into account when prescribing painkillers.

Anti-inflammatory drugs are widely used to manage pain in patients with osteoarthritis and other painful conditions. In 2004, Vioxx, a COX-2 inhibitor, was withdrawn from the market after a trial showed it increased the risk of heart disease.

The researchers said that since then, there has been much debate about the heart safety of COX-2 inhibitors and NSAIDs, but various studies have failed to give clear results.

After analysing data from the 31 trials, the Swiss team said that in general naproxen seemed to be the safest painkiller for patients with osteoarthritis, but this advantage should be weighed against potential side effects including possible stomach problems. An alternative could be Celebrex, they said, as long it was a 400 milligram dose given only once a day.

Commenting on the findings, Simon Maxwell, a professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh, said it was important to see them in context.

"Most users of these drugs will only take them for a relatively brief duration to treat short-lasting episodes of pain and are at minimal risk," he said in an e-mailed comment.

He added that patients with chronic pain may need to use painkillers for longer periods and while the study suggested they might be exposed to some excess risk, the alternatives "may be less acceptable."

Comments

  1. Yes, some of the pain killer drug had more adverse events, whether the drugs classified as NSAIDs, Cobix, or others.
    Make sure you discuss with your physician before take any prescription medication.
    Great article..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Post Your Reply and Give Your Opinion About the Post

Popular posts from this blog

Human Parasites, Types of Parasites, and Classification

Parasite: A parasite is a living organism which gets nutrition and protection from another organism where it lives. Parasites enter into the human body through mouth, skin and genitalia. In this article, we will generally discuss the types and classification of parasites. It is important from an academic point of view. Those parasites are harmful, which derives their nutrition and other benefits from the host and host get nothing in return but suffers from some injury. Types of Parasites Ecto-parasite: An ectoparasite lives outside on the surface of the body of the host. Endo-parasite: An endo-parasite lives inside the body of the host, it lives in the blood, tissues, body cavities, digestive tract or other organs. Temporary parasite: A temporary parasite visits its host for a short period of time. Permanent parasite: Permanent parasite lives its whole life in the host. Facultative parasite: A facultative parasite can live both independently and dependently. It lives in the...

How to taper off, wean off beta blocker, atenolol, Propranolol, Metoprolol

Beta blockers include, atenolol (Tenormin), propranolol (Inderal ) and metoprolol (Lopressor) and are used to treat high blood pressure, certain cardiac problems, migraine and few other conditions. People usually take atenolol, propranolol or metoprolol for many years as a treatment of high blood pressure or after having an episode of heart attack . Sometimes, it becomes necessary to withdraw these beta blockers due to their potential side effects that trouble the patients or sometimes doctor wants to change the drug and shift the patient to some other anti-hypertensive medicine. No matter whatever the cause is, whenever, a patient who has been using a beta blocker for a long period of time, and he needs to be stopped from further usage of that beta blocker, must not stop taking it. One should taper off the dose of a beta blocker. Now a question arises how to wean off or taper off a beta blocker? The method of tapering off beta blocker varies from individual to individual. Allow you...