Researchers have assessed the risk of ischemic stroke associated with taking certain medications used to treat nausea and vomiting.
Is there a link between anti-nausea drugs and the risk of suffering from a cerebrovascular accident (CVA)? The answer would not be so obvious. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Bordeaux and Inserm found that anti-nausea drugs increased the risk of stroke. These findings were published in the British Medical Journal.
These drugs, often taken to relieve vomiting and nausea, are known to the general public as Primperan (metoclopramide), Vogalene (metopimazine) or Motilium (domperidone). This study is the first to assess the risk of ischemic stroke associated with exposure to antidopaminergic antiemetics.
A peak from the first days of treatment
As part of this research, the researchers analyzed the data of 2,612 adults hospitalized for a first ischemic stroke and who started treatment with antiemetics in the 70 days preceding their stroke.
“In these subjects, the analyzes found a higher consumption of antiemetics in the days preceding the stroke marked by a peak in treatment initiation over this period. This result suggests that there would be an increased risk of Ischemic stroke at the start of the use of these drugs”, summarizes this study. The researchers found that the risk of ischemic stroke increased from the first days of taking the drug.
“In the immediate future, it seems very important that these results can be replicated in other studies, studies which might also provide indications on the frequency of this adverse effect, which we might not measure here given the methodological approach adopted”, concludes Anne Bénard-Laribière, one of the authors of the study.
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