These all work in a similar way, and include ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac. At the end of the first year after a heart attack, those who had received at least one NSAID prescription were 59 percent more likely to have died of any cause, than those who did not take them.
After five years, this mortality difference persisted - in fact the gap had grown to 64 percent. It is likely those prescribed NSAIDs were less healthy than the others, and so more likely to die sooner.
Researchers, adjusting for health differences as well as other factors including age, sex, income, and the year they were hospitalised for their heart attack, concluded that NSAIDs were most probably causing heart attack survivors to die earlier.
