More Unsettling News About Aspirin Use
Just last month The New York Times Blog posted an article on the dangers of aspirin, citing a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study found that regular consumption of aspirin doubled a person’s chances of developing macular degeneration. Dr. Barbara Klein was lead author of the study and is a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Below is an excerpt from the article:
Dr. Klein and her colleagues used data from the long-running Beaver Dam Eye Study, which has followed thousands of Wisconsinites since 1988. Participants in the study, who were all between the ages of 43 and 86, had checkups every five years in which they underwent eye exams and were asked to bring in any medications they were using. They were also checked for things that can influence the progression of eye disease, like high blood pressure, heavy alcohol use and diabetes. People who were taking aspirin at least twice a week for more than three months were characterized as regular users.
An earlier issue of The New England Journal of Medicine cited other risks with a larger magnitude:
It has been estimated conservatively that 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur among patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis every year in the United States. This figure is similar to the number of deaths from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and considerably greater than the number of deaths from multiple myeloma, asthma, cervical cancer, or Hodgkin’s disease. If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects from NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the United States. Yet these toxic effects remain mainly a “silent epidemic,” with many physicians and most patients unaware of the magnitude of the problem. Furthermore the mortality statistics do not include deaths ascribed to the use of over-the-counter NSAIDS.
If you are good at maths, you can see that 40,000 Americans are killed each year by these drugs. And that makes them ten times more deadly than swine flu (because 40,000 is ten times greater than 4,000).
These studies show that people suffering from musculoskeletal disorder would be better served seeking treatment that can get to the root cause of the problem, rather than relying on NSAIDs that just merely cover up the symptoms anyways. If you suffer from a musculoskeletal disorder, such as back pain or headaches, call Georgia Clinic of Chiropractic at (706)814-5053 today to find out how our treatments work and why they may be the answer for your specific condition. Similarly, you can visit www.georgia-clinic.com to read more about our treatments and watch videos of our patients telling firsthand how they were able to get the results they were looking for.
The Georgia Clinic of Chiropractic Blog is written by Dr. Mark Huntsman.
Georgia Clinic of Chiropractic is conveniently located off Furys Ferry Rd in Martinez, Georgia and provides quality chiropractic care to the Augusta, Martinez, and Evans communities. Visit our main website at www.georgia-clinic.com.
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