Comparing Rates of Dyspepsia with Coxibs vs NSAID+PPI: A Meta-Analysis
Man, this gets confusing. Several years back, we saw the appearance of “public service” ads talking about the dangers of NSAIDs on bleeding ulcer risk and death. Noting that some 22,000 people a year die from this complication, the “public service” ad was directing the general public, who had no idea their ibuprofen could kill them, the find more information.
Little did the general public know that this “educational process” was designed to introduce callers to a new class of drugs called the COX-2 inhibitors like Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra, that were safer on the stomach. The cost of these drugs was exceedingly expensive, and nearly bankrupted the healthcare system in Australia and led to phenomenal profits for the drug companies. The rest of the story most are familiar with–Merck is fighting off lawsuits because Vioxx had the unintended consequence of increasing risk of heart attacks.
So now, come full circle, we have this study that finds that, giving standard NSAIDs along with another drug to protect the stomach is actually much better on the stomach than the COX-2 inhibitors. Geezz!! How ’bout finding a good chiropractor to reduced the arthritis pain instead???