As with all medical journals with a good reputation, the Archives of Internal Medicine also chose to publish an editorial about the adverse cardiovascular effects of coxibs.1 It was published on January 24, 2005. However, it is with great concern that one reads the following statement1(p159):
This indicates that the Archives of Internal Medicine was not aware of the National Cancer Institute announcement on December 17, 2004, releasing information that the Adenoma Prevention with Celecoxib (APC) trial had been prematurely terminated owing to a significant excess of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke.2 An editorial on this was even published in JAMA in the January 19, 2005, issue, in which the absolute numbers were also given.3 Thus, the absolute excess of major cardiovascular events was 13 of 1000 patients at the 400-mg celecoxib dose and 21 of 1000 patients at the 800-mg celecoxib dose. The presence of a dose response and the fact that the order of magnitude of these events was comparable to the event rates seen during intervention with rofecoxib and valdecoxib supports the association.