'Quit smoking' drug linked to heart risk
09 July BBC
A drug used by smokers to help them quit increases the risk of heart
attacks and other serious cardiovascular problems, research says.
An international team reviewed studies involving more than 8,000
smokers, and found more of those taking Champix fell ill than those on
dummy drugs.
The review, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests
smokers should not use the drug to stop.
But makers Pfizer say it is an "important option" to help people
quit.
And heart experts stress smoking itself is a major heart disease risk
factor. Champix (varenicline) accounted for over 955,000 prescriptions
in England last year.
It works by cutting cravings, but in the past it has been linked to
depression and suicidal thoughts.
'Benefits versus risks' This review, carried out by researchers at
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, Maryland, and the UK's University of East
Anglia, looked at 14 studies into cardiovascular problems in people
taking the drug.
All bar one excluded people with a history of heart disease, and
lasted for between seven weeks and a year. The majority of those
involved were men aged under 45.
In all, of the 4,908 people taking Champix (known as Chantix in the
US), 52 experienced serious cardiovascular problems such as heart attack
or arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) compared with 27 of the 3,308
taking dummy drugs.
The US Food and Drug Administration has already placed a warning on
the drug's information leaflet about the risk of suicidal thoughts and
it recently added a second about additional cardiovascular risk to
people who already have heart disease after looking at one study of 700
people.
Writing in the journal, the researchers said: "Clinicians should
carefully balance the risk of serious cardiovascular events associated
with varenicline use against the known benefits of the drug on smoking
cessation."
Dr Yoon Loke of the University of East Anglia, who worked on the
review, agreed the numbers involved were small, but said that was likely
to be because the studies looked at healthy people - and that the risk
could be greater for smokers who already had heart problems.
He added: "There are lots of other options to help people stop
smoking that don't involve drugs."
'Talk to your doctor' Doireann Maddock, a senior cardiac nurse at the
British Heart Foundation, said: "Smoking is one of the major risk
factors for heart disease. "In fact, smokers double their risk of a
heart attack compared with people who have never smoked, and quitting
smoking is the single most important thing you can do to improve your
heart health."
She said the study's finding was "a concern", but said further
research was needed before firm conclusions could be drawn. "People
using varenicline to help them to stop smoking should not stop using it
because of this study alone but should chat to their GP about it and the
options available."
A spokesman for Pfizer, which makes the drug, said the company
"disagreed with the interpretation of the data" in the study, which it
said had "limitations".
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