Epidemiologic study of regular analgesic use and end-stage renal disease.

A case-control study of the relationship between regular analgesic consumption and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) development was conducted and was made up of 527 patients with ESRD and 1,047 matched controls from southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The study was unable to demonstrate an increased risk of ESRD associated with use of analgesics either as single compounds or in combinations. In addition, no consistent dose or duration relationship was shown for users of specific analgesic combinations or for single compounds. We suggest that if there is an association between the use of analgesics and ESRD development, the risk is not large or at least not large in the geographic area where the study was carried out.