According to the study data, some traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can slightly increase the risk of non-fatal heart attack when taken regularly for more than one year. However, this does not apply to ibuprofen or naproxen, two of the most widely-used NSAIDs.
The researchers, from the Centro Espanol de Investigacion Farmacoepidemiologica in Madrid, Spain, studied NSAID use in 4,975 patients who had had a heart attack and 20,000 healthy control individuals. Their results show that taking NSAIDs for less than a year does not increase the risk of heart attack. Regular NSAID use for longer than one year, however, can increase the risk of non-fatal heart attack by 20%.
The researchers analysed the heart attack risk associated with three of the most commonly used NSAIDs. Their results show that individual NSAIDs have different cardiovascular effects. Taking ibuprofen for over a year does not increase the risk of heart attack, while long-term diclofenac use causes a small increase in the risk of having a heart attack. Long-term use of naproxen could have a small protective effect, according to this study.