Is the Sodium in Sodium Oxybate a Risk for Heart health? a Plain Language Summary

Abstract

What is this summary about?

Sodium oxybate is a medicine for narcolepsy symptoms. It contains a high level of sodium. Should people taking sodium oxybate and their doctors worry about the sodium increasing their risk of heart or cardiovascular problems? This is a summary of an article that reviewed 20 years of published data to answer that question.

What were the results?

We found that sodium oxybate was not linked to cardiovascular risks, such as heart attacks or strokes.

What do the results mean?

This suggests that the sodium in sodium oxybate may not add cardiovascular risk for people with narcolepsy.

• People currently taking sodium oxybate should talk to their doctor to ask if they need to be concerned about the sodium in their medicine.

• People who take sodium oxybate are unlikely to need to change their sodium oxybate medicine because of the sodium.

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Link to original article here.

Keywords:

• cardiovascular
• lay summary
• narcolepsy
• plain language summary
• safety
• Salt
• sodium oxybate

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Corrigendum

Financial disclosure

Dr Avidan has received honoraria or payment for serving on advisory boards for Avadel Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Harmony Biosciences. Dr Kushida has received honoraria or payment for serving on advisory boards for Avadel Pharmaceuticals, XW Pharma, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Judy Fallon, PharmD, RPh, of The Curry Rockefeller Group, LLC (Tarrytown, NY), provided medical writing support for this plain language summary of publication. Avadel funded the medical writing support and journal publishing costs of this plain language summary of the publication and reviewed the final draft for scientific accuracy and readability.