Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
We couldn’t make these locally if we tried.
Meta-analysis in the British Medical Journal has now looked at the size of the risk and ranked common NSAIDs for the potential severity of their adverse effects such as renal impairment gastro-intestinal complications cardiotoxicity dysfunction and damage to the heart.
Drugs considered were naproxen (Naprosyn) ibuprofen (Nurofen) diclofenac (Voltarin) celecoxib (Celebrex) rofecoxib (Vioxx) lumiracoxib (Prexige) and etorocoxib (Arcoxia).
Some drugs were riskier than others:
[ul]lumiracoxib (not available in Australia) twice risk of heart attack
ibuprofen three times risk of stroke
etorocoxib and diclofenac both about 4 times risk of cardiovascular death
Naproxen least harmful in terms of cardiovascular safety[/ul]