Heart risks from Vioxx happen much earlier than believed, says Queen's researcher

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Public release date: 2-May-2006

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Queen's University

Heart risks from Vioxx happen much earlier than believed, says

Queen's researcher

25 percent of heart attacks occurred within first two weeks of use,

new study shows

KINGSTON, Ont. – A new study led by Queen's University researcher

Lévesque shows that heart attacks related to the use of Vioxx –

a drug once popular for the treatment of pain and inflammation – can

occur within the first two weeks of use.

A quarter of patients who suffered a heart attack while taking Vioxx

did so within the first two weeks of their first Vioxx prescription,

says Prof. Lévesque, of Queen's Department of Community Health and

Epidemiology. " This demonstrates that cardiovascular risks from

taking Vioxx may occur much earlier than previously believed. "

Conducted with McGill University researchers Brophy and Bin

Zhang, the findings will be published on-line May 2 in the Canadian

Medical Association Journal.

" Our previous study on COX-2 inhibitors, which included Vioxx and

Celebrex, evaluated whether there was an increased risk of heart

attack while taking these medications; the answer was yes for Vioxx, "

explains Prof. Lévesque. In the current study, funded by the Canadian

Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), the pattern of cardiovascular

risk in Québec seniors was assessed over a three-year period.

The additional cardiovascular risk actually decreased with longer

duration of use, suggesting that the period of highest susceptibility

for most people taking Vioxx may occur earlier than previously

believed. The study also documents that cardiovascular risk returns

to normal within one month of stopping the drug.

Vioxx was voluntarily withdrawn from the market on September 30, 2004

after a study showed that it doubled patients' risk of heart attacks

and strokes after 18 months of use. This study is the first to

specifically address the question of the timing of cardiovascular

risk associated with COX-2 inhibitors.