Put those painkillers down, because new research from medical experts warns that some common anti-inflammatory drugs including the likes of ibuprofen can increase a person’s risk of cardiac arrest by around 50% after just one week of taking them.

New research published in the BMJ proves that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (known as NSAIDS) can cause greater risk of a heart attack, reports The Guardian. It’s thought people who take the painkillers for a week or more will have between 20% and 50% more chance of a cardiac arrest than those who haven’t consumed the drugs.

The research analysed the medical records of 446,000 people from Canada, Finland and the UK – 61,460 of whom had suffered a heart attack – and the above correlation became undeniably clear.

And this follows warnings from Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte in March this year, whose research also revealed that NSAIDs caused a greater likelihood of a heart attack. These NSAIDS include ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen; however the study revealed that ibuprofen individually caused an increased risk of 50%.

I’m now definitely thinking back to all the times I’ve taken Ibuprofen for a pathetic headache and am feeling pretty regretful right now.

And indicating that perhaps this really is advice to pay attention to, the NHS also featured the information on its news page.

Professor Gunnar Gislason, a cardiology professor from the Copenhagen University Hosptial where some of the research took place has issued advice which states people should only take these kind of painkillers when absolutely necessary. He says people who have a history of heart problems should avoid the medication altogether.

There are also calls for ibuprofen not to be sold in supermarkets or petrol stations any longer. “The current message being sent to the public about NSAIDs is wrong. If you can buy these drugs in a convenience store then you probably think ‘they must be safe for me’,” said Professor Gislason.

He added: “Allowing these drugs to be purchased without a prescription, and without any advise or restrictions, sends a message to the public that they must be safe.”

So we’ll all stick to paracetamol from now on then, yeah?

Source:

Cosmopolitan