Many thanks to chiropractor, Dr. Terry Ronberg, D.C., for his blog post on the suspension of NSAIDs by a long term study for Alzheimer’s prevention.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that research investigators suspended, until further notice, the use of two drugs, naproxen (220 mg twice a day) and celecoxib (200 mg twice a day), in a large national Alzheimer’s disease prevention trial sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the NIH. The principal investigator for the study is John Breitner, MD, of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Puget Sound and the University of Washington.
Although no significant increase in risk for celecoxib was found in this trial, the use of these drugs in the study was suspended in part because of findings reported from a National Cancer Institute trial to test the effectiveness of celecoxib in preventing colon cancer. Additionally, data from the ADAPT trial indicated an apparent increase in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events among the participants taking naproxen when compared with those on placebo.
As happy as I am that one study learned of a risk factor of common medications from the other, I am curious to know the other reasoning for the suspension of these drugs? The article clearly states that “…the use of these drugs in the study was suspended in part because of findings reported from a National Cancer Institute…”, but I actually believe it was the entire reason the drugs were dropped from the study.
NSAIDs are some of the most commonly used over the counter medications, and people have a tendency to pop them like candy. They are serious drugs that are evidently related to an increase chance of “cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events”, also known heart attacks and strokes.
Not good.