Posted on 06/01/2006 6:35:06 PM PDT by blam
Ibuprofen can double risk of heart attack, says medical study
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
(Filed: 02/06/2006)
Common painkillers such as ibuprofen can double the risk of suffering a heart attack, a study has found.
Research published in the British Medical Journal analysed results of 138 trials involving 140,000 patients over several years. It found that ibuprofen and diclofenac, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), could cause attacks when taken in high doses.
Vioxx: Banned in 2004
The drugs have been previously noted for increasing heart attack risk but experts say that this is the biggest and most definitive study of its kind.
Vioxx, which is part of a group of anti-inflammatories known as COX-2 inhibitors, was banned in 2004 after it was shown that patients on the drug were more than twice as likely to have heart attacks as those not taking it.
The latest study showed that, as expected, COX-2 inhibitors doubled the risk of an attack but so did NSAIDs.
When all "vascular events" - heart attacks, stroke, or vascular disease - were taken together, the risks increased by 40 per cent on the drugs.
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Rome carried out the study. They examined the results of all trials in which vascular events had been recorded for COX-2 inhibitors and NSAIDs. By combining the results, they were able to estimate the effects of these drugs more reliably than any individual trial.
They found that there were three more heart attacks per 1,000 people every year in those who did not already have heart disease but who were taking COX-2 inhibitors or NSAIDs.
Colin Baigent, who directed the research for the Medical Research Council, said that people should not panic at the findings - which relate to the highest doses recommended by doctors. "The rate is three heart attacks in every 1,000 patients treated for a year," he said. "For a person who is unable to move unless they take these drugs, they may be willing to accept that risk if [the drug] is giving them back their life."
Prof Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study adds to the mounting body of evidence that taking high doses of NSAIDs increases the chances of having a heart attack. However, the increased risk is small and many patients with chronic debilitating pain may well feel that this small risk is worth taking to relieve their symptoms."
The International Ibuprofen Foundation said: ''The occasional and short-term use of ibuprofen for minor pain conditions, i.e. the way the majority of consumers use over-the-counter ibuprofen products, is not shown to be a risk factor."
Thanks. But I will continue to take it whenever and how many I want.
Tell your docter you want to stop that if your are on it as an anti-inflammatory.
Voltaren is the most powerful anti-inflammatory pill you can get (sodium diclofenac). It works for me with only 2 each 75mg pills for a day. Neck, back, leg pains go away with only one pill.
Tramadol is Ultracet for pain at 375 mg each. It is more effective for pain than Darvocet or Vicodin. Non-opiate and non-addictive.
I used opiates for a longer time than I should because of injuries and discovered these two are all I need before I realized I needed them no more. Try them. Tell your doctor to order these chemicals for you. I have bad disks. You can't take aspirin or ibuprofin with these.
Not trolling your thread, but I'm so sick of this endless litany of 'medical Studies'. I hear about them daily, sometimes multiple times, and they begin contradicting each other eventually. It's all white noise to me.
Just take this for aches and pains instead. It's probably not as bad for you as allot of the other junk that's out there lol.
ping
Okay, define "high doses".
Ibuprofen may prevent Alzheimer's. And generally, anti-inflammatories should have health benefits. High doses of aspirin (too high to be tolerable), would probably cure type 2 diabetes.
Stole my line!
A year ago I was taking 6-8 325mg aspirin per day.....today I'm taking NONE....or one a week.....some people could benefit from FISH OIL.....it's an anti-inflammatory. But, you have to take substantial amounts daily.....course, the bio-identical hormones have helped a lot too, I think....and maybe the thyroid med...which I'm weaning off of....there are OTHER ways to deal with pain that is not caused by a specific incident injury.
You can still buy absinthe around Pamplona and points north over the Pyrinees into France. Don't. A Tech Seargant got busted by a piss test after he tried it out while he was up there for a little vacation with his 3 kids and his wife. His career ended because of that. Just walk away.
Whooops! My drug of choice for arthritis, degenerative disc pain and the daily hangover. Whats a guy to do?
Aspirin is an NSAID class medication.
I am counting the seconds until the next Law Office of James Sokolove commercial...Have you taken ibuprofen? Do you want 2/3 (or less) of a lot of money?
The dosage warning is for over-the-counter ibuprofen.
800mg of Advil ping, FYI.
The only exception is acetaminophen; it's usually classed in the discussion of pain relievers but is in a class by itself.
I took NSAIDS for thirty years on physician recommendation and nobody ever discussed acetaminophen as an effective pain reliever. Finally I had a bleeding ulcer from an allergic reaction to penicillin and so took a chance that acetaminophen could actually do something. My blood pressure readings dropped 20 points on both systolic and diastolic -- and no longer have chronic gastric distress.
A lot of people than suspected are probably allergic to NSAIDS in the same way I was with all these indeterminate afflictions that can't be explained. Acetaminophen is worth a try -- even if your doctor has been brainwashed into thinking it isn't as effective a pain reliever. Studies haven't indicated that; its weakness is that it doesn't possess as effective anti-inflammatory properties.
You are supposed to stop taking either aspirin or ibubrofin with sodium diclofenac. It is a big blood thinner along with being an anti-inflammatory. You are responsible for your own stroke.
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