title: Calcium antagonists, is there a real concern about safety?
abstract: Calcium antagonists are widely used in the treatment of arterial hypertension and, or in ischemic heart disease. During the last 3 years, controversial articles and editorials have been published concerning the potential risk of calcium antagonists in regard to mortality, cancer and haemorrhage. The information has been mainly derived from case-control studies. The major concern about such observational studies of treatment outcome is the large potential for systematic error to affect the results. However, overviews of controlled trials with calcium antagonists do not provide clear evidence of an effect of calcium antagonists on mortality, risk of cancer and risk of bleeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology and Angiology University Hospital, Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Duprez
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: De Buyzere
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Clement
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000139:chemically induced*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality*; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced*; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers