Clinical pharmacology of predisintegrated ibuprofen 800 mg tablets: an endoscopic and pharmacokinetic study

Gastrointestinal adverse effects of short-term aspirin use: a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials

Background and Objectives

Aspirin is widely used for short-term treatment of pain, fever or colds, but there are only limited data regarding the safety of this use. To summarize the available data on this topic, we conducted a meta-analysis of the published clinical trial literature regarding the gastrointestinal adverse effects of short-term use of aspirin in comparison with placebo and other medications commonly used for the same purpose.

Data Sources and Methods

An extensive literature search identified 119,310 articles regarding possible adverse effects of aspirin, among which 23,131 appeared to possibly include relevant data. An automated text-mining procedure was used to score the references for potential relevance for the meta-analysis. The 3,983 highest-scoring articles were reviewed individually to identify those with data that could be included in this analysis. Ultimately, 78 relevant articles were identified that contained gastrointestinal adverse event data from clinical trials of aspirin versus placebo or an active comparator. Odds ratios (ORs) computed using a Mantel–Haenszel estimator were used to summarize the comparative effects on dyspepsia, nausea/vomiting, and abdominal pain, considered separately and also aggregated as ‘minor gastrointestinal events’. Gastrointestinal bleeds, ulcers, and perforations were also investigated.

Results

Data were obtained regarding 19,829 subjects (34 % treated with aspirin, 17 % placebo, and 49 % an active comparator). About half of the aspirin subjects took a single dose. Aspirin was associated with a higher risk of minor gastrointestinal events than placebo or active comparators: the summary ORs were 1.46 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.15–1.86) and 1.81 (95 % CI 1.61–2.04), respectively. Ulcers, perforation, and serious bleeding were not seen after use of aspirin or any of the other interventions.

Conclusions

During short-term use, aspirin is associated with a higher frequency of gastrointestinal complaints than other medications commonly used for treatment of pain, colds, and fever. Serious adverse events were not observed with aspirin or any of the comparators.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40268-013-0011-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Efficacy and tolerability of diclofenac dispersible in painful osteoarthrosis

A multicentre, twelve-week, double-blind, randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of diclofenac dispersible in patients suffering from osteoarthrosis of the knee and/or hip. Symptomatic adult patients (N = 129) of either sex were treated with diclofenac dispersible or the conventional enteric-coated tablet of diclofenac sodium 50 mg orally, thrice daily. Both formulations of diclofenac led to comparable and clinically significant reductions in the intensities of pain at rest and during activity within 1 week of therapy initiation. More than 70% of patients in both treatment groups had no or mild pain on full passive movement by the end of the study with the Lequesne Index showing a reduction of around 50% from initial values. Overall assessments of efficacy by the patient and the investigator indicated a positive response rate for both diclofenac formulations ranging between 71% and 82%. The proportion of patients reporting adverse effects, predominantly gastro-intestinal, was slightly higher in the dispersible group, 40.3%, compared to 37.3% with enteric-coated diclofenac sodium.