Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Atrovent News: Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Death

In patients with COPD, an anticholinergic drug used to prevent bronchospasm, ipratropium bromide (Atrovent)increased the risk of cardiovascular death, researchers here reported.


A nested case control study found that ipratropium use was associated with a 34% increase in risk of cardiovascular death (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.47), according to Todd A. Lee, Pharm.D., of Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Ill., and colleagues.

Additionally, theophylline exposure was associated "with a statistically significant increase in respiratory deaths compared with the unexposed group (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.00)," they wrote in the Sept. 16 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine

For more, go to this Link