Common Pain Reliever May Affect Liver Failure in Hepatitis Patients
A new study suggests that liver patients who took more acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, had higher death rates and were less likely to survive without an organ transplant.
Viral hepatitis is a liver infection caused by viruses such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, Epstein-Barr virus, and herpes simplex virus. In some cases, these infections can lead to acute liver failure, a life-threatening condition where the liver suddenly stops working.
Doctors often recommend acetaminophen to help with fever and pain in hepatitis patients, but it is a leading cause of liver damage when taken in high amounts. Scientists wanted to find out if taking acetaminophen while having hepatitis made liver failure worse. The institute’s co-founder, R. Todd Stravitz, M.D., a hepatologist, and former medical director of liver transplant at VCU Medical Center, was among the study’s co-authors.
In this study, published this month by the American Journal of Gastroenterology, researchers examined 356 patients who had liver failure related to acute viral hepatitis. They measured use of acetaminophen by checking patient medical histories and measuring chemical markers of exposure to the pain reliever in patients’ blood. The results showed that 57.5% of patients had taken the medication, and nearly a quarter had moderate to high amounts in their system.
Patients with the highest levels of exposure had the worst outcomes, with a 51.6% death rate and the lowest chance of surviving without a liver transplant (22.6%). However, after adjusting for other medical factors, researchers could not confirm a direct link between acetaminophen use and a higher risk of death.
This study shows that more research is needed to find the safest way to treat pain and fever in patients with viral hepatitis, according to the researchers. Doctors should be cautious when recommending acetaminophen to people with liver disease, especially those at risk for acute liver failure. Patients with liver failure should talk with their physicians about their use of over-the-counter pain relievers.