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Ibuprofen 'Increases the Risk' of Heart Attack

Posted on: Friday, 10 June 2005, 12:00 CDT

THE safety of one of the world's most popular painkillers was called into question yesterday for the second time in days.

A new study lists ibuprofen as one of a number of antiinf lammatory drugs which may increase the risk of heart attacks.

Another study earlier linked both ibuprofen, widely used for headaches and arthritis, and aspirin with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The finding came as a particular shock since ibuprofen had recently been identified as a possible preventive against the cancer and some women had started taking it for that purpose.

But research at the University of Southern California found women taking ibuprofen daily for five years were at 50per cent higherrisk, and women using aspirin over the same period were at 81per cent risk of a particular sub-type of breast cancer.

Millions of people around the world use ibuprofen, which is available as an over-thecounter medicine and is used to treat minor pains such as headaches.

The report said the risk of heart attack increased by almost a quarter for those taking the painkiller.

The new generation of antiinf lammatory drugs, Cox-2s, was also linked to higher rates of first-time heart attacks. It is thought that more than a million patients with arthritis have been prescribed Cox-2 inhibitors in the UK.

The latest finding, published in the British Medical Journal, identified 9218 patients in Scotland, England and Wales who had suffered a heart attack for the first time during a four-year period. They looked at whether these patients had been prescribed non-steroidal anti-inf lammatories (NSAIDs) , including ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen, celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx).

The researchers at Nottingham University compared patients taking NSAIDs in the three months before their heart attack with patients who had not taken the drugs for three years. The risk increased by 24per cent in those taking ibuprofen, and by 55per cent in those on diclofenac.

Celebrex increased the risk of heart attack by 21per cent, while Vioxx increased it by 32per cent.

"Our most important consistent finding was a significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in patients taking three specific drugs: rofecoxib, diclofenac and ibuprofen, " the researchers said.

"Current use of these drugs was associated with a 24-55per cent increase in risk of myocardial infarction after adjustment for potential confounders."

Putting the findings into context, they said in terms of "numbers needed to harm" in the over-65 group, for those taking diclofenac one extra patient for every 521 patients was likely to suffer a first-time heart attack. For rofecoxib the figure was one patient for every 695, and for ibuprofen one patient for every 1005.

The researchers said further investigation of these drugs, used to treat inf lammation, was needed, but patients should not stop taking them. But they added that given the high prevalence of the use of these drugs in elderly people and the increased risk of heart attacks with age, the findings could have significant implications for public health.

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it would be examining the new study in the context of other evidence on the issue. In the meantime, the lowest effective dose should be used for the shortest period of time necessary.

Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

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