The use of painkillers
and anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen causes change to the
human HPA axis. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were designed to
reduce pain by inhibiting prostaglandins COX1 and COX2 that signal the feeling
of pain. COX 2 is most often selected to be inhibited due to inhibition of COX
1 causing gastrointestinal problems. NSAIDs that inhibit COX 2 have had reports
of correlation to cardiovascular problems for around the past 15 years. As of
today, there is not a whole lot of information about the causal effects that
NSAIDs may have on human cardiovascular health, but there is research being
done on this topic.
The research done by Arfè
et al. found a positive correlation between the administration of COX2
inhibiting NSAIDs and heart failure. The results of the paper show that there
is a 19% increased risk of heart failure in patients currently using NSAIDs (i.e.
within the last 14 days) compared to patients that did not use NSAIDs in the
past 183 days. The study also suggests that because COX2 inhibition is
increases with increased dosage of NSAIDs, the risk of heart failure increases
with increased dosage.
Arfè,
A., Scotti, L., Varas-Lorenzo, C., Nicotra, F., Zambon, A., Kollhorst, B.,
& ... Corrao, G. (2016). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and risk of
heart failure in four European countries: nested case-control study. BMJ
(Clinical Research Ed.), 354i4857. doi:10.1136/bmj.i4857
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