Message #369 posted by Herfea June 16, 1999 18:49:17 PT
BOSTON (Reuters) -- Aspirin and
related drugs kill almost as many
people every year as AIDS and are
responsible for a "silent epidemic,"
researchers said in an article to be
released Thursday.
Ulcers caused by such drugs kill
about 16,500 people in the United States each year, they reported in the
New England Journal of Medicine. AIDS killed 16,685 people in 1997,
according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Dr. M. Michael Wolfe of the Boston University School of Medicine, said
doctors have known for years that the class of medicines known as
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, cause ulcers and other
stomach problems in a small fraction of patients.
But because the drugs are used so widely -- about 26 billion
over-the-counter tablets are consumed each year -- the number of deaths
caused by the medicines is large, Wolfe said in a statement released through
the university.
"We estimate that approximately 16,500 deaths occur annually in the U.S.
from ulcer-related complications associated with their use," he said.
If those deaths were given their own category, Wolfe and his colleagues
report, the toxic effects of NSAID drugs "would constitute the 15th most
common cause of death in the United States."
NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, and the active ingredients in Aleve,
Naprox, Voltaren and Indocin.
"This is, in many ways, a silent epidemic, because gastrointestinal
complications are not preceded by any warning signs in many individuals,"
Wolfe said.
A new class of drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors are designed to provide
pain relief without the dangerous side effects of NSAIDs, but experts say it
is not yet clear if they are indeed safer.
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