Heart Attack Risk Factors - The Hidden Perils of Your Painkiller

Research shows how the perils of your painkiller might lead to stroke, heart failure and death.

Perils of Your Painkiller

We've all done it. Popped painkillers to ease the aches and pains of daily life. Yet if recent research is to be believed, more than 9 million daily users in the UK alone could be putting their health - and their hearts - at risk.

Scientists came to this shocking conclusion following a study of more than 30,000 patients. Their research showed how users of Ibuprofen were 40% more likely to develop an irregular hearth rhythm - atrial fibrillation or heart flutter - which can commonly lead to stroke or heart failure.

These figures become even more alarming when you consider how 9 million people in Britain take this over-the-counter non-steroidal drug (NSAID) every day, and how more than 700,000 people suffer with a heart flutter condition.

Heart Flutter Study

The researchers, whose findings are published online in the British Medical Journal, used a database of Danish patients to target 32,602 people with a first diagnosis of heart flutter between 1999 and 2008.

The research paper found:

"...that use of non-aspirin NSAIDs was associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Compared with non-users, the association was strongest for new users, with a 40 to 70% relative risk increase."

"Our study adds evidence that atrial fibrillation or heart flutter needs to be added to the cardiovascular risks under consideration when prescribing NSAIDs."

In May, experts revealed how taking high-dose NSAIDs for as little as one week can increase heart attack risk factors by 45%. This figure unnervingly climbed to 55% if the non-steroidal drug treatment was extended to 3 months.

The evidence continues to mount, as a further study earlier this year found heart patients using painkillers every day for a year could triple their risk of stroke.


Photo courtesy of Matt Robinson

Dangers of Aspirin

These views are supported by bestselling author and biotechnology pioneer Barry Sears, Ph.D.

Writing in The Anti-Aging Zone, Sears details the dangers of aspirin and NSAIDs:

"You can't use these suicidal soldiers forever, as aspirin also shuts down the synthesis of 'good' prostoglandins, especially those that protect the stomach from dissolving itself. When that happens you get internal bleeding. This is why there are more than 10,000 deaths per year associated with the overuse of aspirin."

"Continued use of NSAIDs generates the same problems as does long-term aspirin use."

In Summary

Could your painkiller increase heart attack risk factors?

If your aim is to build a strong and healthy body, you would do well to beware the hidden perils of your painkiller.

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