Acetaminophen, a popular painkiller, is something many of us have taken at some point, especially for headaches or fevers. It’s common in households, and people generally consider it safe.
Most of the time, we take it as a tablet or capsule, and it’s pretty effective in reducing pain and fever. However, in hospitals, acetaminophen is sometimes given in a different way—through an IV, directly into the bloodstream.
This method has some advantages, but it turns out it also comes with an unexpected effect on blood pressure.
When given intravenously, acetaminophen works faster. This rapid effect can be essential for patients in pain who need quick relief. Additionally, medical staff can adjust the dose more precisely with an IV.
This approach is also helpful for patients who can’t swallow pills due to medical conditions or surgeries. But researchers have found that delivering acetaminophen this way can cause a significant drop in blood pressure, even in patients who aren’t critically ill.
This surprising side effect became more noticeable in hospital settings, where about six out of ten very ill patients receiving intravenous acetaminophen experienced a drop in blood pressure. A third of these patients needed extra medical help because of this issue.
Even with this side effect, intravenous acetaminophen is still commonly used because it remains a reliable and generally safe pain reliever. However, scientists wanted to understand why it affects blood pressure when administered directly into the bloodstream.
The research team, led by Thomas Qvistgaard Jepps from the University of Copenhagen, explored this question. They discovered that the way acetaminophen moves through the body changes depending on how it’s given.
When taken orally, acetaminophen first passes through the liver. This process causes the drug to break down in a specific way before it enters the rest of the body. But when the drug is given through an IV, it bypasses the liver and flows directly into the bloodstream.
This change results in different chemical reactions, producing compounds that interact with certain potassium channels in the body. These channels help regulate blood pressure, so when the compounds created by IV acetaminophen affect them, blood pressure can drop.
To test this theory, the researchers ran experiments with rats. They managed to block the potassium channels that seemed to react with the IV acetaminophen compounds, which led to a reduction in the blood pressure drop.
This result provides a clue about how to prevent this side effect and suggests that doctors might one day be able to adjust treatments to avoid unexpected blood pressure changes.
These findings are particularly useful for doctors and nurses, especially when they’re caring for a large number of patients needing intravenous pain relief, such as during busy periods in hospitals or crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Knowing about this side effect allows medical teams to be more cautious and prepared when using IV acetaminophen, especially with patients who might already have low blood pressure or are vulnerable to sudden drops.
For people who take acetaminophen by mouth, there’s no need to worry. This side effect is specific to the intravenous method, so those who follow recommended doses at home aren’t at risk for these blood pressure changes.
The results from this study primarily matter for hospital settings where IV acetaminophen is used.
This research adds to the growing knowledge of how even common medications can have different effects based on how they’re delivered.
It also highlights the importance of understanding these effects so that healthcare providers can give the safest care possible.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
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