Verified on 03/25/2022 by Florine Dergelet, Editor
Researchers from Inserm and the University and University Hospital of Bordeaux have just demonstrated a link between taking certain antiemetic drugs which are intended to relieve nausea and vomiting and an increased risk of ischemic stroke.
Taking antiemetic drugs associated with risk of ischemic stroke
Previous studies had already shown that taking antipsychotics – drugs with antidopaminergic properties – increased the risk of ischemic stroke (stroke caused by the occlusion of an artery in the brain by a blood clot). For the first time, researchers from Inserm and the University and University Hospital of Bordeaux have assessed the risk of ischemic stroke associated with exposure to other antidopaminergic drugs: antiemetics.
Antiemetics are drugs used for the symptomatic treatment of nausea and vomiting. They can be prescribed in case of acute gastroenteritis, migraine, in a post-operative context or even in the context of chemo- or radiotherapy. Researchers studied three types of antiemetic drugs: domperidone, metoclopramide, and metopimazine.
According to the results published in the British Medical Journal, the researchers revealed an association between taking these drugs and the risk of having an ischemic stroke. However, these drugs are used very commonly in France, as the authors of the study point out: “En 2017 in France, more than 4 million people had had at least one reimbursement for metopimazine, the most used of them ».
Risk of stroke from the first intake of antiemetic medication
To carry out their study, the researchers used health insurance reimbursement data and hospital admission data. They then analyzed data from 2,612 adults hospitalized for a first ischemic stroke. These patients had all had treatment with antiemetics in the 70 days preceding the stroke. The analyzes then showed 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 use of these drugs. can we read in the press release of the study.
Subsequently, the researchers considered, over the same period, a random group of 21,859 people who had not had a stroke. It appears that ” in these people, no peak or excess of use of antiemetics comparable to that highlighted in patients having presented a AVC was found ».
« This first study provides a strong signal, relating to drugs widely used in the general population. In the immediate future, it seems very important that these results can be replicated in other studies. concludes Anne Bénard-Laribière, one of the authors of the study.