Washington: Common painkillers, such as ibuprofen and aspirin, are associated with a 30 per cent increased risk of being admitted into the hospital for the first time due to heart failure, a new research says.
The study was based on data from the General Practice Research Database, which holds the anonymised medical records of millions of patients registered with family doctors across the UK.
As a part of the study, the researchers identified all patients who were aged between 60 and 84 on January 1, 1997 and monitored them up to the end of December 2000.
14 per cent of patients were taking Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) at the time of their admission compared with 10 per cent of the comparison group of randomly selected people.
Half of those admitted to hospital were men, and half were aged between 70 and 79.
They found that of all the NSAIDs, people taking indomethacin seemed to be at the highest risk, and were over three times as likely to be admitted to hospital for heart failure as those not taking the drug.
Osteoarthritis was the most common reason for taking NSAIDs.
And though the authors point out that the figures suggest that at one extra person out of every 1000 people aged between 60 and 84 taking NSAIDs admitted to the hospital for the first time, the numbers are small.
The researchers suggest that this could rise to three additional cases among patients aged 70 and older with conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney failure.
"Even a small increase in the risk can translate into a significant disease burden in the general population," they conclude.
The researchers found that a previous diagnosis of heart failure, obesity, being a smoker, and a history of recent specialist appointments and inpatient stays were all associated with a greater chance of being admitted to hospital for heart failure for the first time.
The study is published ahead of print in Heart.
Comments
0 comment