Abstract
Most reviews of drug withdrawal effects focus on drugs of potential abuse such as opioids, benzodiazepines, etc. Abrupt discontinuation of many other drugs used in medicine cause withdrawal syndromes, some of which can be fatal. Discontinuation of a number of cardiovascular drugs can increase risk of cardiovascular events above that of people not taking these drugs. These include β-adrenergic receptor antagonists, aspirin, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), and heparin. Rebound hypertension occurs after abrupt cessation of many antihypertensive drugs. The possibility of discontinuation syndromes has usually been neglected until adverse clinical events force them to be noticed. Attention to the possibility of drug discontinuation effects is an important part of drug safety evaluation.
Footnotes
This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Research Resources [Grant UL1-RR024996]; and a Cooperative Agreement from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [5U18HS016075].
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://jpet.aspetjournals.org.
doi:10.1124/jpet.111.183285.
-
ABBREVIATION:
- ASPET
- American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
- Received April 25, 2011.
- Accepted August 16, 2011.
- Copyright © 2011 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
JPET articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years.Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page.
|