Could an Antibiotic be Causing Heart Problems in COPD Patients

A new COPD clinical study has shown that there is an antibiotic which could cause potential heart complications for people with a preexisting respiratory disease. This report has been garnering some attention as this antibiotic is currently widely used.

This antibiotic, known as clarithromycin, is most often used to certain respiratory infections such as pneumonia and sudden exacerbations of COPD symptoms. However, previous studies had produced evidence that this antibiotic could increase a patient’s risk of heart complications such as heart failure, heart palpitations, and even cardiac arrest.

Looking for Participants with COPD and Pneumonia

In this COPD clinical study, a team of British researchers obtained data from nearly 1,300 patients who had experienced a COPD exacerbation and another 1,600 patients with pneumonia. They discovered that 26 percent of the people with COPD who had taken clarithromycin experienced at least one cardiovascular complication over the course of one year, compared to only 18 percent among the participants who never took this antibiotic.

This antibiotic also seemed to have an affect on the patients who had pneumonia based on this COPD clinical trial. Just over 10 percent of the participants that had taken clarithromycin experienced at least one heart problem over the year, compared to 7 percent amongst those who never took it. This clinical study was set up by James Chalmers from the University of Dundee, in Scotland, and colleagues.

(The results from this COPD clinical trial have been published in the latest issue of the BMJ journal.)

Does this Antibiotic Cause Heart Problems in COPD Patients?

When it comes to COPD, the data has suggested that there is a significant link between taking this antibiotic and cardiovascular-related death. However, this apparent link was not identified in the patients who had pneumonia, at least this is what is reported in the news release available online.

Still, it seems that longer that these participants used clarithromycin, the higher their risk of having cardiovascular complications. When researchers looked into other antibiotics, it seemed that other common variations did not cause these issues, which seems to suggest that clarithromycin has some effect that is very specific to it.

Clarithromycin May Cause Additional Heart Problems After Discontinued

Overall, their data seems to suggest that there could be one additional heart complication for every eight patients over COPD and every 11 patients with pneumonia who are prescribed clarithromycin, when compared to those who are not given the antibiotic.

This clinical trial has also highlighted an increased risk of heart complications which could persist even after patients stopped taking this antibiotic, possibly due to the effect that the antibiotic may have on the inflammation that chronic pulmonary disease can cause. The research team has been open about the fact that some of this data needs to be confirmed before health care providers need to start making any significant alterations to the prescribed treatment of COPD or pneumonia. This is mainly due to the fact that this study identified a link between clarithromycin and cardiovascular issues, but it did not establish any cause or effect.