New Research Finds Vioxx Raises Risk of Heart Failure

Canadian researchers wrote in a recently published article that elderly patients using Vioxx have an 80 percent greater risk of being admitted to the hospital for congestive heart failure (CHF) compared to individuals using Celebrex or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

The authors of the study, which appeared in the May 29 issue of The Lancet, conducted a population-based cohort study in which the medical records of nearly 39,000 patients over age 65 who were recently prescribed Vioxx, Celebrex or a non-selective anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), such as ibuprofen or naproxen were examined. The patients' admission records were then compared with …