NSAIDS and heart disease
From researcher Giovanni Corrao and the University of Milano-Bicocca, the study looked at usage of NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and selective COX2 inhibitors by examining 10 million hospital admission records from four countries, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K.
From those 10 million admissions the study pulled out the 92,163 admissions that were for heart failure. Published Thursday in the British Medical Journal, the study examined data on those heart failure admissions and determined that “current use of any NSAID (use in preceding 14 days) was found to be associated with a 19 percent increase of risk of hospital admission for heart failure.”
The study also said results offered “…further evidence that the most frequently used individual NSAIDs and selective COX2 inhibitors are associated with an increased risk of hospital admissions.”
Observational study
Study authors cautioned that because the work was not conducted in a controlled environment, but rather was an observational study based upon data, iron-clad conclusions on the results could not be made.
The NSAIDS studied were diclofenac, ibuprofen, indomethacin, ketorolac, naproxen, nimesulide and piroxicam. The usage of two selective COX 2 inhibitors, etoricoxib and rofecoxib, was also examined.
While some of those drugs were found to double the likelihood of a hospital admission for hearth failure, the most common of them, ibuprofen, was found to only slightly raise the risk.
The NSAID that may be the most dangerous is diclofenac, which previously the European Society of Cardiology had recommended be avoided entirely.
