Study links painkillers to increased risk of heart attack

Some of the most commonly used painkillers can increase long-term users' heart-attack risk by more than a third, an in-depth study into their side-effects has shown.

One year's high-dose treatment with over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen and diclofenac, used by hundreds of thousands of arthritis sufferers in the UK, leads to three avoidable heart-attacks and one fatal heart-attack for every 1,000 users, researchers said.

Independent