Alzheimer can’t be treated by pain killers - Studies
May 13, 2008
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) – Recent studies have shown that Alzheimers disease can not be prevented by the use of the two most commonly used pain killers. Despite the study’s early end, there were still enough data to hint at how the drugs act on thoughts and memory.The famous arthritis drug known as Celebrex and the over-the-counter painkiller Aleve have displayed no benefit on thinking skills, new findings show. Previously results from the same research showed that the two drugs didn’t avert Alzheimer’s, at least in the short term.
The experiment was stopped several years early in the year 2004 when heart risks turned up in a separate study on Celebrex. Researchers also had noticed more heart attacks and strokes in the people taking Aleve in the Alzheimer’s prevention study.”These were not the results we were hoping for,” said co-author Barbara Martin of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “We designed this study hoping we would see a protective effect of these drugs.”
Researchers hope to continue monitoring the participants to see whether they find any delayed benefit.Scientists have speculated that non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, such as Aleve and Celebrex, might prevent Alzheimer’s by reducing inflammation in the brain or by other means.
“The drugs have several effects in the brain and the dissimilar effects could be important at different stages in the illness,” said study co-author Dr. John Breitner of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Previous studies had found that people who took the drugs ran a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. But those were observational studies, meaning they observed people’s behavior and health. The people who took the pills may have had other fit habits that lesser their risk.
“There’s no evidence that people should be on these drugs to prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. David Bennett of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study but does alike research. “With the side effects of these drugs, people shouldn’t be taking them for this cause.”
Both products now carry warnings about heart risks. Anti-inflammatory drugs also can cause serious gastrointestinal bleeding. Experts counsel patients to ask their doctors about how long to take the drugs for pain.
“Unluckily, as this paper demonstrates, research doesn’t always interpret into successful new treatments,” said Dr. Gail Cawkwell of Pfizer in an e-mail. Cawkwell pointed out that the study did not find augmented heart risks for Celebrex.
Agencies
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