Steroid Drugs Increase Risk Of Death After Head Injuries
According to a study by the Medical Research Council, reported on BBC News today, the practice of treating head injuries with anti-inflammatory corticosteroids increases the death rate by about 20 %, rather than saving patients' lives.
While this is further confirmation of the statistical evidence that the medical system has become one of the leading causes of death in the Western world, publication is a very positive step as it will lead to more careful assessment of drug benefits in the future.
Head injury drug increases deaths
A Medical Research Council study of more than 10,000 patients found giving anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce brain swelling increased the risk of death.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine scientists told doctors to stop using these drugs to treat people with head injuries.
More data is expected from the trial, which is published in the Lancet.
Deaths
The effect of the anti-inflammatory drugs, called corticosteroids, on disability six months after head injury would be reported soon, the researchers said.
Their current findings showed the drugs increased the risk of death by about 20% within two weeks of patients with head injuries being admitted to hospital.
The study involved patients treated at 239 hospitals in 49 countries around the world.
Half of the 10,008 patients were randomly allocated to receive corticosteroid treatment. The other half were given a dummy drug.
There were 156 more deaths in the steroid group than in the fake drug group, which was the opposite of what the researchers had expected based on previous smaller studies.
Commenting on the findings in an editorial to the Lancet, Dr Stefan Sauerland from the University of Cologne in Germany, said the results were "a complete and alarming surprise for us all."
"In future, we should avoid trusting in underpowered clinical trials," he said.
Change in practice
Lead researcher Dr Ian Roberts said: "Obviously we'd have preferred to find out that corticosteroids improve patients' chances of surviving head injury.
"But our results are important because they'll improve patient care and protect thousands of future patients from increased risk of death from corticosteroids."
He said it also raised the question of whether these drugs might be harmful for patients with spinal injuries.
Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the MRC, said: "The team is putting together proposals to trial other potential treatments, in particular treatments for excessive bleeding which accounts for most trauma deaths worldwide."
About three million people worldwide die from trauma every year.
Of those who survive to reach hospital, blood loss accounts for many of the subsequent deaths.
Peter McCabe, chief executive of Headway, the brain injury association, said: "There is a real lack of comprehensive research into brain injury.
"We welcome any new research that will help throw light on ways to improve people's survival rates and long-term outcome."
See also related:The Globe and Mail: Head-trauma treatment may have killed thousands
Doctors have been giving steroids to head-trauma patients for more than 30 years, but the first major study of the practice has shown steroids are useless and may even have killed thousands of people. Experts said the findings, published today in The Lancet medical journal, are "a complete and alarming surprise for all."Modern Medicine Pushing Poisonous Drugs - Says Doctor
Does Anaesthesia Cause Addiction and Degenerative Illness?
Pharma Promotion Dishonest - Slanted Reporting of Paxil, Prozac Studies
Health Canada: Causing Deaths by Withholding Information on Drug Dangers
Medical system is leading cause of death and injury in US
Pharmaceutical corporations accused of Genocide before ICC in The Hague
Why do Pharmaceutical Drugs injure and kill?
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Friday October 8 2004
updated on Friday December 10 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/10/08/steroid_drugs_increase_risk_of_death_after_head_injuries.htm
Related ArticlesPaxil, Zoloft, Xantax - Drug Induced Violence
23 August 2004 - The New York Times reports on the Murder case of Christopher Pittman coming up for trial. The 12-year-old has shot his grandparents and put their house on fire, but he says it was the effect of the drug he was on at the time - the antidepressant Zoloft. The case comes amid widespread allegations that antidepressant drugs cause many to commit suicide, a charge hotly denied... [read more]
August 26, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerLipitor - Vioxx: Discovering The Statin - Painkiller Chain Reaction
The recent withdrawal of Merck's blockbuster painkiller Vioxx may actually afford us a glimpse of a chain of events that is normally well hidden in research papers, at best selectively disclosed to the medical community. Vioxx and other new-generation painkillers such as Bextra and Celebrex have all come under fire for their tendency to cause an increase of heart attacks. Statin Drugs, such as Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lesocol and Mevacor... [read more]
December 06, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerUS Health System Needs Radical Overhaul: New York Times
25 October 2004 - In last Sunday's New York Times, editors Donald Barlett and James Steele called for a radical overhaul of the US health system. While the calamitous failure of pharmaceutical suppliers to come up with a sufficient quantity of flu vaccine provides the immediate backdrop for the article, the discussion goes much deeper. It is really about why the US health system has dismally failed to deliver on... [read more]
October 25, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerEli Lilly Knew Prozac Causes Suicides, Violence - FDA Closed Both Eyes
Prozac, called fluoxetine by generic name, is a psychiatric drug prescribed to over 50 million people including millions of children. The drug was linked to increased suicides and violence as early as 1988, in a recently emerged document. Apparently the evaluation was known to Prozac's maker Eli Lilly as early as the 'eighties, but was never even given to the FDA. This is the preoccupying picture that emerged just days... [read more]
January 01, 2005 - Sepp HasslbergerFDA Orders Antidepressant Suicide Warnings Over Psychiatric Association Resistance
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has been strangely resistant to the idea of warning patients of an increased risk of suicides when taking antidepressant drugs or SSRIs. One would think that psychiatrists should be the first ones to call for such warnings, but perhaps they fear to "lose ground" to natural alternatives in the treatment of mental disorders, which they have been persecuting for decades, concentrating their treatment efforts nearly... [read more]
October 16, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerMercury, Autism, Chemical Sensitivity - New Study Gives Hope
Autism has taken on epidemic proportions without any clear signs as to what causes the illness. While there is much data that links vaccines and especially the mercury contained in them to autism, a report released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) on 13 December seems to bring us a step closer to the truth. As Dr. Mercola points out, the report cites a specific metabolic impairment in autistic children... [read more]
December 19, 2004 - Sepp Hasslberger
