Carrao and colleagues published a study in the BMJ (28 Sept 2016) which looked at the risk of heart failure associated with NSAIDs. This was a nested case-control study from five population-based healthcare databases in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the UK. The study looked at the risk association between hospital admissions for heart failure and NSAID use (both COX 2-selective inhibitors and non-selective NSAIDs).

Previous studies have already demonstrated an increased risk of heart failure, but the risks of individual NSAIDs and any dose relation are not known.

The principal finding was an increased risk of admission for heart failure associated with diclofenac, ibuprofen, indomethacin, ketorolac, naproxen, nimesulide, piroxicam, etoricoxib and rofecoxib.

Patients without a pre-existing diagnosis of heart failure were also affected. The risk also increased with increasing dose for most of the drugs.

For the full article, click here.