CardioExchange Archive

Danish Study Sheds Light on Cardiovascular Risk of NSAIDs: The cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs has been the subject of intense controversy. A new study from Denmark, appearing in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, may help clarify the cardiovascular risk of specific NSAIDs. Using national health and pharmacy databases, the Danish investigators identified more than 1 million people without illnesses requiring hospitalization within the previous 5 years who received prescriptions for NSAIDs. The researchers then found a dose-dependent risk of cardiovascular death in patients taking diclofenac and rofecoxib. Ibuprofen treatment was associated with an increased risk of stroke. By contrast, there was no excess risk associated with naproxen.

“Even though the frequency of these effects is quite low, they are still important,” said the study’s first author, Emil Loldrup Fosbol, in an AHA press release. “People should at a minimum be aware that this is a problem.” The authors expressed particular concern about diclofenac, noting that it is widely used throughout the world and is available in many countries as an over-the-counter medication.

Commenting for the AHA, Elliott Antman said the study provides a rare degree of completeness in calculating risks: “This is not information you can get in the U.S. because we just don’t have this ability to track individual records in the same way.”