Researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark found patients with Type 2 diabetes with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug prescriptions have an increased risk of heart failure, Cardiovascular Business reported Aug. 23.
The preliminary study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology, tracked more than 330,000 T2D patients who were diagnosed from 1998 to 2021. The average patient age was 62 years old and the median follow-up period was six years. Researchers found more than 23,000 patients were hospitalized for heart failure for the first time at the end of the follow-up period..
Sixteen percent of study patients had at least one NSAID prescription, and 3 percent had at least three prescriptions. Ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen were the most common.
The authors also found the risk of first-time heart failure hospitalizations were high among patients 65 or older, patients who struggled to control their diabetic symptoms and patients who infrequently used NSAIDs.
"This was an observational study and we cannot conclude that NSAIDs cause heart failure in patients with Type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Anders Holt, a cardiologist at Copenhagen University Hospital and lead author of the study, in a European Society of Cardiology statement. "However, the results suggest that a potential increased risk of heart failure should be taken into account when considering the use of these medications."