Analgesic that does not require a prescription, paracetamol has become a real everyday medicine. In the event of a headache or fever, this is often the first instinct. But a recent study has just shown that prolonged intake entails certain health risks.
The results of an English study1, published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, revealed that taking paracetamol for a long time would be potentially dangerous for health. The scientists thus carried out the examination of several thousand studies, of which they retained eight of them and were able to observe a dose-effect relationship between the intake of the drug and an increase in mortality, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders. intestinal and renal. However, all of the studies focused on patients who needed long-term paracetamol because of medical problems.
Higher risks
Of the eight studies, two looked at mortality following the intake of paracetamol and it was observed that the relative risk (association between a risk factor and a disease) increased from 0.95 to 1.63 when the doses of the drug were gradually increased. Four looked at cardiovascular incidences where the relative risk ranged from 1.19 to 1.68. The one that focused on gastrointestinal disorders saw its risk increase from 1.11 to 1.49. Four others noted kidney incidents and finally, the last saw its glomerular filtration rate (filtration of blood by the glomerulus of the kidney) decrease. Results on the rise therefore, which clearly illustrate this dose-effect relationship due to the intake of paracetamol.
A question of dosage
While we already knew the risks of paracetamol toxicity for the liver2, British researchers have once again demonstrated that taking the drug would not be without dangers. Indeed, the maximum recommended dose is 3 grams per day (or even 4 grams in some cases) but the duration of treatment should not exceed six days. So even though the consequences observed by the study relate to patients with other medical problems, the director of the group of researchers, Professor Philip Conaghan, states that these results “ demonstrate that the real risk of paracetamol is higher than what the medical community currently thinks “.
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Sources: 1 Paracetamol: not as safe as we thought? A systematic literature review of observational studies. Emmert Roberts, Vanessa Delgado Nunes, Sara Buckner, Susan Latchem, Margaret Constanti, Paul Miller, Michel Doherty, Weiya Zhang, Fraser Birrell, Mark Porcheret, Krysia Dziedzic, Ian Bernstein, Elspeth Wise, Phili G Conaghan. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. March 2015 2 Modulation of paracetamol metabolism by Kupffer cells: a study on rat liver slices. Neyrinck A, Eeckoudt SL, Meunier CJ, Pampfer S, Taper HS, Verbeeck RK, Delzenne N. National Institute of Health. |
