Study
links painkillers, high blood pressure in women
DALLAS
(AP) — Women taking daily amounts of non-aspirin painkillers
— such as an extra-strength Tylenol — are more likely to develop
high blood pressure than those who don't, a new study suggests.
While
many popular over-the-counter painkillers have been linked
before to high blood pressure, acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol,
has generally been considered relatively free of such risk.
It is the only one that is not a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drug or NSAID, a class of medications the federal government
just required to carry stricter warning labels because of
the risk for heart-related problems. Those include ibuprofen
(sold as Advil and Motrin) and naproxen (sold as Aleve). Many
had turned to those painkillers in the wake of problems with
prescription drugs, such as Vioxx.
However, the new study found that women taking Tylenol were
about twice as likely to develop blood pressure problems.
Risk also rose for women taking NSAIDS other than aspirin.
"If you're taking these over-the-counter medications at high
dosages on a regular basis, make sure that you report it to
your doctor and you're checking your blood pressure," said
Dr. Christie Ballantyne, a cardiologist at the Methodist DeBakey
Heart Center in Houston who had no role in the study.
The research found that aspirin still remains the safest medicine
for pain relief. It has long been known to reduce the risk
of cardiovascular problems and was not included in the government's
requirement for stricter labels for NSAIDs.
The study involved 5,123 women participating in the Nurses
Health Study at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's
Hospital in Boston. None had had high blood pressure when
it began.
Results were published online Monday in the American Heart
Association journal Hypertension.
"It certainly sets the basis for more studies," said Dr. Stephanie
Lawhorn, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute
in Kansas City. "Most of the time we think that things like
acetaminophen are fairly safe drugs."
The study found that women ages 51-77 who took an average
daily dose of more than 500 milligrams of acetaminophen —
one extra-strength Tylenol — had about double the risk of
developing high blood pressure within about three years. Women
in that age range who take more than 400 mg a day of NSAIDS
— equal to say two ibuprofen — had a 78% increased risk of
developing high blood pressure over those who didn't take
the drug.
Among women 34-53 who take an average of more than 500 mg
of acetaminophen a day had a two-fold higher risk of developing
high blood pressure. And those who took more than 400 mg of
NSAIDS a day had a 60% risk increase over those who didn't
take the pills.
"We are by no means suggesting that women with chronic pain
conditions not receive treatment for their pain," lead author
Dr. John Phillip Forman, of Harvard Medical School and associate
physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said
in an e-mail. "By pointing out risks associated with these
drugs, more informed choices can be made by women and their
clinicians."
Previous research linking these drugs to blood pressure problems
did not look at dose.
The results in this study held up even when researchers excluded
women who were taking pills for headaches, something that
could itself be a result of very high blood pressure, said
Dr. Gary Curhan, another study author also of Harvard Medical
School.
As for why aspirin didn't raise risk, it might be because
"aspirin has a different effect on blood vessels than NSAIDS
and acetaminophen have," said Dr. Daniel Jones, dean of the
school of medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center
in Jackson.
