Common Pain Killers Increase Your Risk of Heart Failure

This huge study was conducted in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the UK. It included 92,163 people who had been admitted to hospital for heart failure and matched them with 8,246,403 controls. The researchers wanted to see if there was an association between using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and being admitted to the hospital for heart failure. NSAIDs are very commonly used as painkillers and for fever. The study looked at 23 traditional NSAIDs and 4 of the newer COX 2 inhibitors. What they found is serious. . . .

Taking any NSAID in the last two weeks was associated with a 20-24% increase in the risk of being hospitalized with heart failure compared with not taking NSAIDs in the past half year.

The risk of admission for heart failure went up with nine of the painkillers: diclofenac, ibuprofen, indomethacin, ketorolac, naproxen, nimesulide, piroxicam, etoricoxib and rofecoxib. According to some analysis, nabumetone also significantly increased the risk of heart failure. For naproxen, the risk of heart failure went up by 16%; for ketorolac, it went up by 83%. At high doses the risk doubled for many of the drugs. But even at normal doses, the risk increased on indomethacin and etoricoxib. The risk with several other NSAIDs also increased, but not significantly.

The researchers concluded that the study, “based on real world data . . . provides evidence that current use of both COX-2 inhibitors and traditional individual NSAIDs are <sic> associated with increased risk of heart failure.”

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