Long Term Use of Pain Killers Can Cause Kidney Cancer
Posted: Tuesday, September 13, 2011
by Dr K K Aggarwal
Heart Care Foundation of India
A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine has shown that
people who regularly take pain killer drugs ibuprofen or naproxen are
51 percent more likely to develop kidney cancer. There is no increased
risk from taking aspirin or paracetamol, said Padmashri and Dr B C Roy
national Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation of
India and MTNL Perfect Health Mela. .
The mechanism through which pain killers could cause kidney disease is
the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis with resulting papillary and
tubular injury, and ultimately damage to DNA.
The study analysed data from 77,525 women in the Nurses' Health Study
and from 49,403 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
The risk was related to the duration of pain killer use. It was 19
percent lower if the pain killer was used for more than four years and
less than ten years. The risk increased by 36% when the pain killer
was used for more than four years. The risk increased almost three
times for those who used these drugs regularly for 10 years or more.
The good news is that Kidney cancer is uncommon so the risk is small
for average users. Two other important causes of kidney cancer are
obesity and smoking. So people on pain killers should not smoke and
should keep their weight under control to prevent kidney cancer.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)So it is the type of NSAID taken and not all NSAIDS? Does this include all types of IBU and Naproxen, or just those taken orally?
Thanks!
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