Risks of NSAIDs backed in new study

To expand on your comment about occasional vs. chronic use - it sounds like at least some of the studies included in the meta-analysis were studies of arthritis patients. Two things jump out from that - one, you're looking at an older population that is more at risk for cardiovascular events in the first place, and two, you're looking at a chronic condition where people are taking NSAIDs all day, every day, for years and years.

Any time you're reading medical studies, you have to answer the question "how well does this study population represent me?" If you're a hardcore triathlete who's constantly training and racing through injuries, and taking NSAIDs 24/7/365 to manage chronic inflammatory pain, then you might have more cause to worry about these results. If you have a family history or other risk factors, then more so.

But if you're a casual fitness type triathlete whose response to a running injury is to lay off running for a couple weeks and focus on swimming and cycling until you're healed up, then maybe you don't need to worry about occasional NSAID use.

I'm a lot more in the second category. YMMV.

Edited by alath 2011-01-11 10:26 PM

This is not the news I wanted to hear. I get cluster headaches and rely on ibuprofen. I know of the liver damage and stomach issues, but this new info is not good. A while back I switched to acetaminophen until i heard a report that acetaminophen is the #1 cause of total liver failure. The other headache specific drugs all seem to report their own devastating side effects 5 years after wide acceptance, so I guess were back to good old fashioned bloodlettings.

I know the article was not in depth...but I'm not sure how they are linking NSAIDs to the strokes or heart attacks.  Did the studies actually look at cases where NSAIDs were determined to be the actual cause of the strokes or heart attacks...or was the study simply about people who had strokes or heart attacks...and they found out whether or not they took NSAIDs.

If it's the latter...then the study does not mean much...and the article does say...

Also, the study did not look specifically at patients who were at risk for cardiovascular problems already; although these people should be particularly wary of NSAIDs.  That means that this data probably underestimated the risks of these drugs, Berger said.

He also questions how much weight to put on the ibuprofen and stroke finding, because only two of the 31 trials looked at that question.

So until more information is provided that actually links NSAIDs to CAUSING strokes or heart attacks...this article means no more to me than if the title was...

"Research has shown that people who drive Ford Mustangs are more likely to have strokes, and people who drive Toyota Camrys are more likely to have heart attacks"

A statment like this could very well be true...but it does not determine cause/effect.

I was given diclofenac (or something of the sorts) for my PF, I took a blood test about a month and a half into it and they found my liver levels to be off. The doc determined it was due to the anti inflammatory. Granted i was on a high dose but do be careful with them.

well, the data on the hot tubs is not encouraging, or hot showers, lakes, pools, etc for that matter..but thats another thread

Here are links from the British Journal of Medicine to the abstract of the actual study and the accompanying editorial.

I am not a doctor, but I played one once in a high school production. From my reading, this is of most interest to people who take daily painkillers and have significant cardiovascular risk.