Agency: Chronic NSAID Use May Increase Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke

LONDON - A British healthcare products regulatory agency has alerted medical professionals and the public to potential thrombotic dangers associated with chronic use of high dose ibuprofen and certain other common painkillers used to treat arthritis.

In an Oct. 24 letter to the medical community, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) stated that the risks of heart attack and stroke associated with use of non-selective NSAIDs are 'very small,' but that they most likely pertain to all NSAIDs.

For ibuprofen, at high doses there may be a small thrombotic risk, but overall, at low doses, epidemiological data do not suggest …