NSAIDs & Your Heart: They Won’t Kill Pain; They May Kill You

We have been writing a lot lately about the ineffectiveness and serious risks of using painkillers like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) because there have been a lot of important studies lately on the ineffectiveness and dangers of pain killers. And now, yet another study has added even more weight that painkillers can be dangerous for your heart. . . .

This large new study looked at 28,947 people who had suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Of those people, 3,376 of them had been treated with NSAIDs up to 30 days before their cardiac arrest. The NSAIDs included, ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen, celecoxib and rofecoxib, with most people taking either ibuprofen (51%) or diclofenac (21.8%).

The researchers found that taking NSAIDs actually increased the risk of cardiac arrest by 31%. Ibuprofen increased the risk by a significant 31% and diclofenac increased the risk by a significant 50%.

Though naproxen increased the risk by 29%, celecoxib by 13% and rofecoxib by 28%, these increases in risk were not significant, possibly because the number of events in these smaller groups was so low.

One of the lead researchers said, based on these findings, NSAIDs “should be used with caution and for a valid indication. They should probably be avoided in patients with cardiovascular disease or many cardiovascular risk factors.”

Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Pharmacother 2017;3(2):100-107

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This is far from the first study of its kind. For more on the ineffectiveness and dangers of painkillers, see our article, “