AHA on NSAID use
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
"Many doctors should change the way they prescribe pain relievers for chronic pain in patients with or at risk for heart disease," the American Heart Association says in a Feb. 26 news release. The release announces a Scientific Statement appearing in the journal Circulation Feb. 27, which advises physicians to prescribe drugs only if non-pharmacologic treatments are unsuccessful. "When acetaminophen, aspirin and perhaps even narcotic medications are not effective ... it may be reasonable to consider an NSAID as the next step," Elliot M. Antman, M.D., Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, et al., conclude. "If symptoms are not adequately controlled by a nonselective NSAID, subsequent steps involve prescription of drugs with increasing degrees of COX-2 inhibitory activity, ultimately concluding with the COX-2 selective NSAIDs." The authors say naproxen "appears to be the preferred choice" in terms of NSAID treatments, but note that "relatively few" studies have been conducted on the drug...