Painkillers may pose risk after heart attack

Last Updated: 2006-06-19 16:00:11 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among people who have survived a heart attack, taking certain types of painkillers is associated with an increased risk of a repeat heart attack or death, investigators in Denmark have found.

The elevated risks apply not only to COX-2 inhibitors (which include drugs like Vioxx) but also so-called nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen or diclofenac.

"Patients who have already suffered a heart attack appear be more vulnerable to the harmful effect of these medications," said Dr. Gunnar H. Gislason said in press release from the American Heart Association.

Gislason, from the Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, and colleagues extracted data from the Danish National Patient Registry on 58,432 patients age 30 or older who had survived a first heart attack between 1994 and 2002.

They then mined the Danish Registry of Medicinal Product Statistics for information regarding prescriptions of NSAIDs as well as selective COX-2 inhibitors, their dosages, and how long they were prescribed.

During follow-up, 9773 of the patients had another heart attack and 16,561 died, the team reports in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Taking a low dose of a COX-2 inhibitor was tied to an approximate doubling of the risk of dying and about a 50 percent increase in the chances of having another heart attack. At higher doses, mortality risk was increased five-fold.

With high daily doses of NSAIDs, the likelihood of dying was doubled or quadrupled depending on the specific drug, and the risk of another heart attack went up 22 to 89 percent.

Given the results from this and other studies, Gislason's team writes, "COX-2 inhibitors and nonselective NSAIDS should be used with particular caution in patients with a prior (heart attack)."

SOURCE: Circulation, online June 19, 2006.

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U.S. trains foreign scientists in bird-flu testing

Last Updated: 2006-06-19 16:11:11 -0400 (Reuters Health)

WASHINGTON - Two dozen scientists from 19 countries will be trained this week by the U.S. Agriculture Department in diagnostic testing for bird flu, the department said on Monday.

The one-week session at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, is the third in a series of "train the trainers" workshops devoted to testing for and diagnosis of the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Ron DeHaven, head of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the goal was to prepare senior-level veterinarians and poultry-disease experts to train colleagues in lab procedures and protocols.

This week's group of 24 scientists come Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Romania, Sudan, Taiwan, Uganda and Uruguay.

USDA said a total of 51 scientists from 34 countries attended two earlier sessions. Some nations, such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, took part in more than one session.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.