Swap effect with the class name. Port St. Lucie News Ft.
Critics say the analysis is flawed and no cause for alarm.
Still, many agree the issue needs to be studied because millions of people take the drugs, known as cox-2 inhibitors. The researchers analyzed four studies that were not designed to examine the drugs' effects on the heart. Until such research is done, doctors should use caution in prescribing them to patients with heart disease, said Dr. Eric Topol, co-author of the analysis and chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. The analysis, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medicine, included a study that looked at the gastrointestinal side effects in 8,076 patients taking Vioxx or the pain reliever naproxen. Vioxx patients faced double the risk of serious cardiovascular problems, including strokes and heart attacks, though only 111 Vioxx patients had them.