Medications Archive

Research we're watching

If you have children in your house — even for a few hours at a time — be certain to store your medications safely. A study in the January 27 issue of Pediatrics found that more than half of the time, accidental poisonings with prescription medication occurred because adults had removed the medicine from a child-resistant container before the child discovered it.

CDC researchers examined calls made between February and September 2017 to five poison control centers to determine how these accidents most often occur. Most of the time, the pills that children encountered belonged to a parent, but in more than half of cases involving particularly harmful medication, it belonged to a grandparent. These medications included drugs to treat diabetes or cardiac conditions. Child-resistant packaging can help protect children, but it's often inconvenient for adults. Study authors found that most often when poisonings occurred, it was because adults put the pills into pill organizers that were not child-safe, stored them in small plastic bags, or left them out on a surface that a child was able to reach. In other cases, a child found a pill that was dropped on the floor.

In the journals

Men often rely on drugs to manage overactive bladder symptoms, such as frequent urination, urgency, incontinence, and nocturia (having to use the bathroom at night). However, a study published online Jan. 13, 2020, by JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that adding behavioral therapy may lead to better results.

Scientists recruited more than 200 men (average age 64) with overactive bladder symptoms and divided them randomly into three groups. One group received only drug therapy. One received only behavioral therapy, which consisted of learning pelvic floor exercises and relaxation techniques to help suppress urges and prevent urine loss. The third group had both behavioral and drug therapy.

Memory slips are aggravating, frustrating, and sometimes worrisome. When they happen more than they should, they can trigger fears of looming dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. But there are some treatable causes of forgetfulness.

New studies shed light on the role of aspirin for people without a previous heart attack or stroke.

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It costs just pennies per pill, doesn't require a prescription, and may be lifesaving for some people. But daily low-dose aspirin doesn't make sense for everyone. Now, three major studies that examined the benefits and risks of this widely used drug may alter the advice about who should take aspirin.

"Aspirin remains a cornerstone of treatment after a heart attack or stroke. But the question of whether people with a low to moderate risk of heart disease should take aspirin is a really important one," says Dr. Christopher Cannon, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Tens of millions of people in the United States fall into that low-to-moderate-risk category. But until now, there weren't many large trials that included those people, he notes.

Dozens of states are cracking down on the amount of opioids doctors can prescribe.

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Overdoses of powerful painkillers called opioids kill more than 115 people per day in the United States. More than 42,000 people died from opioids in 2016, five times more than in 1999. The reason? Since several of these powerful painkillers became available in pill form several decades ago, doctors have been prescribing more than patients need. "It is estimated that a large part of leftover opioids are diverted to the street, either deliberately or through theft," says Dr. Edgar Ross, senior clinician at the Pain Management Center at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The misuse of opioids is a risk many states are no longer willing to take. The rules limit the amounts that medical professionals can prescribe for temporary (acute) pain from surgery, injury, or illness.

Which pain reliever should you take, acetaminophen or NSAIDs?

What you need to know about common pain relievers, from Tylenol to Aspirin. Once upon a time, easing pain was relatively simple: take two aspirin and call the doctor in the morning. Now there are many pain relievers to choose from (see "Pain relievers at a glance").

Willow bark was one of the earliest painkillers. Extracts or teas of willow bark have been used to treat fever and pain for more than 2,000 years. Unfortunately, the active ingredient, salicylic acid, is very hard on the stomach. In 1897, a German chemist working for the Bayer Company found a way to modify salicylic acid so it was less irritating to the stomach. The compound he created, acetylsalicyclic acid, was called Aspirin. It remained the premier over-the-counter painkiller until the development of acetaminophen in 1956 and ibuprofen in 1962. Since then, more than a dozen others have come onto the market.

Some drugs that contain ranitidine (best known as Zantac) have been found by the FDA to have unacceptable amounts of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a possible cancer-causing chemical (which also triggered recalls of certain lots of the blood pressure drugs called angiotensin-receptor blockers).

On April 1, 2020, the FDA requested that all forms of ranitidine (Zantac, generic versions), including prescription and over-the-counter products, be removed from the market. They may contain unacceptable levels of a potential cancer-causing substance known as NDMA, or N-Nitrosodimethylamine. In some samples tested by the FDA, the impurity appears to increase over time, especially when stored at higher temperatures. So far, tests of other acid blockers do not show this potential increased cancer risk. 

Cannabis use among older adults has been steadily increasing, due to lessening stigma and increased interest in using medical marijuana. But there are specific concerns for older people, so anyone considering this option should have a conversation with their doctor weighing the benefits and risks.

News briefs

Smoking tobacco is a major cause of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. But did you know that smoking marijuana may also be associated with the same problems? A Harvard research review published Jan. 28, 2020, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that more than two million U.S. adults with cardiovascular disease are smoking pot despite the risks, although they may not be aware of the potential link to heart problems. Studies on marijuana use have been limited, primarily because the substance has been illegal for decades. Scientists are calling for more research, since medical marijuana use is now legal in more than 30 states, and recreational use is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia. "Until we have more answers about the connection between using marijuana and heart problems, you should consider avoiding smoking any form of pot if you have known heart disease or a high risk for a heart attack or stroke," suggests Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, a study author and editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter.

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Research we're watching

Doctors have been overprescribing opioids for chronic musculoskeletal pain, according to a December 2019 study in The Journal of Pain. Researchers looking at data from a survey conducted between 2007 and 2015 found that doctors more often prescribed pills, either non-opioid or opioid, rather than physical therapy, counseling, or other nondrug interventions — a practice that is directly at odds with what experts now recommend, including those in the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. At their first visit with the doctor, people were most often prescribed non-opioid painkillers (40.2%) or opioids (21.5%), followed by counseling, nonpharmacological treatments, and physical therapy. Study authors say this shows there is room for improvement through education. However, it's worth noting that the time period studied (2007 through 2015) preceded much of the recent work and advocacy aimed at reducing prescriptions of opioids.

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