Arthritis pills longterm, particularly in the elderly, is a risky business. Stomach bleed have been reported to cause more deaths than car accidents and other injuries. These stats are now relatively old and comments from doctors has been that they are not seeing as much. Question is why:
1) Use of selective Cox 2 celebrex agents – well maybe- but if they are on any aspirin, you can forget any benefits.
2) Use of proton pump inhibitors – omeprazole, pariet (Rabeprazole), pantaloc, prevacid, nexium and so on… It does reduce gastritis problems and might explain reduction seen.
3) Now it appears eradication of Helicobacter pylori helps
J Clin Gastroenterol. 2008 Sep 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Patients on Long-term Treatment With NSAIDs
Reduces the Severity of Gastritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.De Leest HT, et al
“Significant less active gastritis, inflammation, and H. pylori density was found
in the eradication group compared with the placebo group in both corpus and
antrum (P<0.001). In the corpus, less atrophy was found in the eradication group
compared with the placebo group.”
Bottom line – maybe check H.pylori status in patients going on longterm NSAID’s and treat..