by Thomas M. Burton
The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Arthritis patients taking opiod pain drugs had a higher risk of bone fractures and death compared with people taking other painkillers, according to a study that looked at Medicare claims records.
Researchers from Harvard affiliate Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston looked at painkiller use among Medicare beneficiaries over seven years, and found elevated risks from opioids, compared with other painkilling medications.
Other pain drugs compared included older ones like ibuprofen known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Also compared were newer pain drugs, called "coxibs," like Celebrex and Vioxx, which has been withdrawn from the market.
Researchers focused on opioids because they have garnered relatively limited attention during the focus on other painkillers in recent years.
The study found that opiods were linked to an 87% increased risk of death during the study, compared with NSAIDs like ibuprofen. The coxib drugs didn't raise the risk of death.
The study focused on 12,840 patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey treated between January 1999 and December 2005.
The opioid drugs were linked to a 68% increase in overall "safety events"--ranging from intestinal bleeding to stroke and heart attack to fractures--when compared with the older painkillers. Newer pain drugs didn't show any increase in these overall safety events.
Perhaps most striking, the opioids were linked to a risk of fractures that was 4.5 times that in patients taking the NSAID drugs. Opioids include codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, propoxyphene, and tramadol. But the risks weren't consistent among these. The study was published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers noted that the analysis "cannot proved causation."
The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Arthritis patients taking opiod pain drugs had a higher risk of bone fractures and death compared with people taking other painkillers, according to a study that looked at Medicare claims records.
Researchers from Harvard affiliate Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston looked at painkiller use among Medicare beneficiaries over seven years, and found elevated risks from opioids, compared with other painkilling medications.
Other pain drugs compared included older ones like ibuprofen known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Also compared were newer pain drugs, called "coxibs," like Celebrex and Vioxx, which has been withdrawn from the market.
Researchers focused on opioids because they have garnered relatively limited attention during the focus on other painkillers in recent years.
The study found that opiods were linked to an 87% increased risk of death during the study, compared with NSAIDs like ibuprofen. The coxib drugs didn't raise the risk of death.
The study focused on 12,840 patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey treated between January 1999 and December 2005.
The opioid drugs were linked to a 68% increase in overall "safety events"--ranging from intestinal bleeding to stroke and heart attack to fractures--when compared with the older painkillers. Newer pain drugs didn't show any increase in these overall safety events.
Perhaps most striking, the opioids were linked to a risk of fractures that was 4.5 times that in patients taking the NSAID drugs. Opioids include codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, propoxyphene, and tramadol. But the risks weren't consistent among these. The study was published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers noted that the analysis "cannot proved causation."
