An article in Circulation posted in September of 2012 showed that NSAIDs after a heart attack cause a 60% increase in mortality and 40% increase in risk for heart attack. They also increase the risk for heart attack in people without a history of heart attack.
It is shocking that the FDA allows them as prescription medication and even more outrageous that they are approved for over-the-counter sale. There are 30,000 deaths every year from this class of drugs and 300,000 hospitalizations. While there have been about 8,000 deaths over the past decade from the war in Iraq and Afganistan, there have been 300,000 deaths right here at home from NSAIDs! It appears we have a bigger war here at home than abroad.
Other risks for NSAIDs include GI bleeds, renal failure, increased risk for erectile dysfunction, leaky guy syndrome and offsetting of the anticoagulant effect of aspirin. Vioxx and Bextra have been taken off the market and so should the rest of the many NSAIDs that are so heavily marketed with direct to consumer ads.
