Geriatric pain relief
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Guidelines for pain relief in older adults issued by American Geriatrics Society are "misleading," Aspirin Foundation of America maintains in a May 8 statement. The AGS guidelines recommend against long-term use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, advising use of acetaminophen as first-line therapy for musculoskeletal pain; development of the guidelines was sponsored by McNeil Consumer Products, the maker of Tylenol ("The Tan Sheet" May 11, p. 9). AGS "failed to clearly distinguish between long-term daily use of prescription NSAIDs and the safe, occasional use of [OTC] medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen," AFA maintains. The foundation decries "what appeared to be a conflict of interest in the sponsorship of these guidelines." AGS' "blanket generalizations about NSAIDs target Tylenol's main competitors in the [OTC] pain reliever market," AFA asserts...