Pills like Advil and Aleve may pose serious risks.
Are you popping dangerous pills? Some kinds of painkillers may raise the risk of a serious blood clotting condition, finds new research from Bassett Medical Center.
In the study, people who took certain nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were 80 percent more likely to develop venous thromboembolism (VTE). That condition includes deep venous thrombosis, where a clot forms mainly in the lower leg or thigh, and pulmonary embolism, where blood clots travel to your lungs and block an artery.
Chalk up the risk to how NSAIDs work. Traditional kinds like Advil and Aleve are known as COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitors, meaning they reduce the production of enzymes involved in both clot promotion and clot inhibition, respectively. Thwarting COX-2 might lead to an imbalance of those two enzymes, which could swing the lever more in favor of promoting clotting, the researchers believe.
That may explain why in the study, participants who took a type of NSAID that only inhibited COX-2—for example, the prescription drug Celebrex—were 99 percent more likely to develop VTE than people who didn’t pop any NSAIDs.
One important note: The study excluded aspirin—an NSAID commonly used as a blood thinner—from its analysis. Aspirin is different from other NSAIDs because it reduces COX-1 much more than COX-2, resulting in less clotting, says study author Patompong Ungprasert, M.D.
While this study doesn’t prove cause and effect, it still might be a good idea to avoid taking non-aspirin NSAIDs if you have other risk factors for VTE, says Dr. Ungprasert. These include obesity, increased age, smoking, and sitting for long periods of time. Ask your doc for another pain-pill substitution.
0 Comments