Common Antibiotic May Increase Death Risk for Heart Disease Patients

 The FDA has advised health care providers to be cautious in prescribing the antibiotic clarithromycin to cardiovsacular disease patients.Results from the agency’s study shows the drug can increase the risk of a heart attack or sudden death years later.

FDA Issued a Preliminary Warning Years Ago

According  to the FDA’s MedWatch drug safety communication alert, doctors  prescribe clarithromycin, sold under the brand name Biaxin, to people  with infections of the lungs, sinuses, ears and skin. The antibiotic is  also used to treat Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), a lung infection  often associated with human immunodeficiency virus.

 Clarithromycin has been used for the past 25 years, and it typically  carries only mild side effects like diarrhea and nausea. After research  emerged showing the antibiotic was associated with heart attacks, faster  heart rates and sudden death, the FDA issued a preliminary warning in  2005.

10-Year Study Links Clarithromycin to Heightened Risk of Death

In  the agency’s recent placebo-controlled clinical trial, researchers  reviewed data from a 10-year follow-up period. They found that  individuals with coronary heart disease  who took a two-week course of clarithromycin had a higher death rate at  least one year after the treatment than those who took a placebo. The  team was unable to ascertain why the antibiotic had this effect.

It’s  important that heart patients get treatment for respiratory infections  because research shows they raise the risk of a heart attack by as much  as 17 percent. Nonetheless, the FDA clinical trial indicates  clarithromycin could present a risk equal in magnitude to the  infections.

Below are the main areas of focus of the alert:

 

• “Patients should tell your health care professionals if you have  heart disease, especially when you are being prescribed an antibiotic  to treat an infection. …Seek medical attention immediately if you  experience symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, such as chest pain,  shortness of breath or trouble breathing, pain or weakness in one part  or side of your body, or slurred speech.” 
• “Healthcare  professionals should be aware of these significant risks and weigh the  benefits and risks of clarithromycin before prescribing it to any  patient, particularly in patients with heart disease and even for short  periods, and consider using other available antibiotics. Advise patients  with heart disease of the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular  problems, regardless of the medical condition for which you are treating  them with clarithromycin.” 
• The alert is the latest in a series of findings that suggest some  antibiotics may seriously harm diseased hearts. Both clarithromycin and  azithromycin belong to a class of antibiotics called macrolides, which  work against infections by blocking protein synthesis in bacteria. The  two drugs are effective against a broad spectrum of microbes and are  sold as Z-Pak, which an earlier 14-year study found was linked to a  more-than-double risk of death in heart disease patients.

Source: http://www.liveinthenow.com/article/common-antibiotic-may-increase-death-risk-heart-disease-patients-even-years-later