NSAID Use Post MI Boosted A Fib and Stroke

Family Practice News: By: MITCHEL L. ZOLER, Family Practice News Digital Network,  April 17, 2012.
CHICAGO – Patients who received treatment with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug following a first-time myocardial infarction had a significantly increased rate of subsequent atrial fibrillation or stroke, based on data collected since 1997 from more than 88,000 Danish residents.

Compared with patients who did not receive an NSAID, those given at least one prescription of a NSAID following hospitalization for a first-time myocardial infarction (MI) had statistically significant increased rates of subsequent atrial fibrillation, 23%, and of a subsequent stroke, 25%, in an analysis that adjusted for possible confounders, Dr. Anne-Marie Schjerning Olsen and her associates reported in a poster at the meeting.

The findings add to existing evidence that NSAID treatment poses a cardiovascular risk to certain patients. Further, the results highlight the need to assess cardiovascular risk and balance that risk from NSAID treatment against its possible benefit before prescribing these drugs, they said.

Last year, Dr. Olsen and her associates reported results from another analysis using the same database showing that NSAID use by patients following a MI boosted their risk for death or a second MI. Read More