Clinical trials suggest a link between an increase in early death in patients with acute decompensated heart failure and the medication Natrecor, even when the drug is used at recommended doses, according to a letter from researchers in the September 27, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Three trials provided new data about death rates that suggests patients with acute decompensated heart failure who received the medication Natrecor had a greater risk for death within 30 days of taking the drug.

Between three studies performed by Dr. Keith D. Aaronson and Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, the crude death rate, or number of deaths per 1,000 people, was 7.6 percent for the group that took Natrecor.

In 2005, the doctors reported in Circulation that even low doses of Natrecor increased the risk of worsening kidney function. Also in 2005, the doctors reported in JAMA that Natrecor was linked with a higher risk of death within 30 days.

Source: “Natrecor Linked to Early Deaths in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure,” MedPage Today, September 26, 2006.