Painkillers Causing More Pain? NSAIDs and Cardiac Ailments

The pain relievers known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are known to carry heart risks. A study, not the first of its kind, led by a group of international researchers was published by the British Medical Journal on 9 May 2017. This study analyzed results of 446,763 people on healthcare databases in countries including Canada, Finland and the UK, of whom 61,460 had a heart attack. It found that the risk increases with higher doses and duration of treatment, but there was no significant increase in risk after one month of taking the drugs. In those who used NSAIDs one to seven days, the risk of heart attack increased 24% for celecoxib, 48% for ibuprofen, 50% for diclofenac and 53% for naproxen.

Analysis

Kevin McConway, professor of Statistics at The Open University, drew attention to the ambiguity of this observational study. He pointed out that all cause for a heart attack cannot conclusively be attributed to the painkillers, i.e. a patient who suffered cardiac arrest after the intake of NSAIDs may have suffered as a result of the condition that required the prescription of the painkiller in the first place rather than the painkiller itself. In other circumstances, a patient can naturally have a higher susceptibility to cardiac ailments, or due to other lifestyle habits such as smoking.

Assessment

The study doesn't mean everyone should avoid taking the pills to treat headaches, lower fevers and reduce pains, but does suggest that people who know they have a larger heart attack risk should avoid long-term use and high doses. In a country such as India, stricter monitoring of over-the-counter painkiller sales is necessary. It is equally important for doctors and pharmacists to understand the individual circumstances and pay greater heed to a reviewed patient’s medical history before making a prescription or sale.

Despite regulations, there still exist some e-commerce websites (such as ebay.in and alibaba.com) that are a prime portal through which Indians meet their regular medical needs. As monitoring these coupled with several other dark web loopholes, the only viable solution is to spread awareness to people about these hazards. As a final solution, more efforts must be made to improve alternative forms of medicine all over the world. Developing infrastructure of physiotherapy, Yoga, meditation and traditional organic forms of medicines all over the world will be a huge step forward.