POSTMARKETING SURVEILLANCE OF THE SAFETY OF CIMETIDINE - 15-YEAR MORTALITY REPORT

The pattern of mortality after 15 years of observation is reported amo ng almost 10,000 patients who were taking cimetidine when they were fi rst recruited between 1977 and 1980, Many took the drug for a number o f years, some switching to other antisecretory agents as the study pro gressed. The findings are reassuring and provide no evidence of any lo ng-term adverse effects of cimetidine which might be detected by monit oring mortality rates. The data have also been used to examine the pos sible positive relationships between aluminium ingestion and Alzheimer 's disease and H. pylori infection and ischaemic heart disease. No sig nificant evidence was obtained in support of the existence of these re lationships. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.