Common Painkillers Raise Heart Death Risk
By Daniel J. DeNoon
High doses of common painkillers raise the risk of heart death in healthy people, a huge Danish study finds.It's the first evidence that so-called NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) pain relievers -- including some sold over the counter -- increase the risk of heart disease and death in people without underlying health conditions.
The risks are dose related and are mostly associated with high doses of the drug. However, for most of the drugs, the deaths occurred in people who had been taking the drugs for only two weeks.
"We found that most NSAIDs are associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity," says researcher Emil Loldrup Fosbol, MD, of Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark.