The scientists at Bern University in Switzerland conducted a scientific research on painkillers and their association with heart ailments, recently. A report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) revealed that people, who consumed high doses of pain-killers over a long period of time were the ideal candidates for heart diseases.
In 2004, painkiller Vioxx from Merck 7 Company was withdrawn from the markets. Prexige from Novartis AG met the same fate in 2007. Both of these medicines were proved to enhance coronary malfunctioning risks. Also in 2004, COX- inhibitor was withdrawn from market, as many trials indicated in the same direction. These events further led to various studies to establish a possible link between painkillers and cardiovascular diseases. Scientists at the Bern University of Switzerland conducted 30 clinical trials on more than 116,000 people. Seven different painkillers, including naproxen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, celecoxib, etoricoxib, rofecoxib, and lumiracoxib were tested. Results showed that people who took these painkillers for arthritis or neck pain have higher risk of getting a heart stroke when compared to people who did not administer such medicines.
Pain-killers, like rofecoxib and lumiracoxib were found to enhance the risk of heart ailments by over two times. On the other hand, the common pain-killer ‘Ibuprofen’ was associated with increasing the chances of heart attack and cardiovascular diseases by almost three folds. Other analgesics, such as diclofenac and etoricoxib were found instrumental in increased deaths due to heart strokes by an alarmingly four times. On the positive side, Naproxen was found to be the least harmful drug among the seven that may lead to a heart stroke.
According to the authors of the University of Bern, an uncertainty exists regarding the damage caused by these painkillers. The study also concluded that many people suffering from musculoskeletal disease also suffer from heart problems. Therefore, the responsibility of taking into consideration the side effects before prescribing any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), falls on the lap of the medical practitioners.
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