Important because so many of us take them regularly...
In older patients with arthritis and no history of cardiovascular disease, chronic use of any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug appears safe from a cardiovascular and gastrointestinal stand-point, and regular, non-selective NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac appear just as safe as the selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor celecoxib according to results the SCOT trial.
"We found no difference between nsNSAIDs and celecoxib, with low cardiovascular and upper gastrointestinal adverse event rates overall," he commented. "In our view, it seems unlikely that another trial of nsNSAIDs versus COX2 inhibitors in subjects free from cardiovascular disease will ever be done due to the low event rates in this population."
The trial included primary care patients aged 60 years and more who were free from known cardiovascular disease and taking chronic nsNSAIDs for their osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.