Der Einflu von Alter und Komorbiditt auf die Inzidenz von unerwünschten Wirkungen unter Piroxicam: Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung bei 2845 Patienten mit Gon- und Coxarthrosen

The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) piroxicam was given to 2845 patients with gonarthroses and coxarthroses according to identical trial protocols for 4 weeks. The influences of age and comorbidity on the incidence rate of undesirable effects were analyzed retrospectively. At the same time, the different times at which these effects became manifest, as well as their duration and severity, were surveyed and compared.
There was hardly any variation in the incidence rate between the individual age groups. The average was approx. 20% and was, for example, not higher among patients in the 66-75 years bracket than among the 46-55 years group. 673 undesirable effects were reported by a total of 602 patients.
59% of all side effects occurred during the first seven days after the initial application, another 21% between the 8th and 14th day. 33% of all undesirable effects lasted for 1-3 days, another 28% for 4-7 days. The usual complaints concerned gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, CNS and dermatological disturbances for 1-3 days, whereas water retention tended to be on a long-term basis (up to 14 days). The degree of severity of about 40% of the complaints was reported to be mild, another 40% moderate, and 20% severe; however, it was not always a severe side effect that prompted discontinuation, for about 5% of the disturbances resulting in discontinuation were considered to be mild and about 40% moderate.
Obviously, multimorbidity can increase the incidence of undesirable effects, but this is not directly related to age, since even young patients, with more than one concomitant disease complained about increased side effects.
The correlations of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made.