Higher Risk for Heart Attack With Vioxx Than With Celebrex
December 8, 2004
(Ivanhoe Newswire) –A new study reveals a greater risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx (rofecoxib) than with Celebrex (celecoxib), although neither drug shows a statistically significant elevated risk of heart attack relative to people who did not use the drugs.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia were the first to study the heart-attack risk associated with the COX-2 inhibitors. Use of Vioxx was associated with 2.72-higher odds of heart attack than the use of Celebrex. They found discrete clinical differences between Celebrex and Vioxx, suggesting the effect of the drugs on the cardiovascular system should be viewed separately rather than as a single class of drugs. Researchers also found a lower risk with NSAIDs like aspirin, ibuprofen and naxproxen, than with the COX-2 inhibitors.
Investigators studied data from 36 hospitals regarding patients who were discharged after hospitalization for certain cardiovascular problems including heart attack between May 1998 and December 2002. Researchers then questioned patients about their use of COX-2 inhibitors or NSAIDs immediately before their heart attack.
They say although definitive conclusions about the risk of heart attack from these COX-2 inhibitors cannot be made, “Our results suggest there is a marked difference between rofecoxib and celecoxib relative to heart-attack risk. Further studies, preferably randomized trials, are needed to fully understand the spectrum effects of COX-2 inhibitors.
SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, published online Dec. 6, 2004
