--- title: Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Linked to Heart Failure description: Taking prescription pain meds, including common ones like ibuprofen and naproxen, on a regular basis may increase risk of heart failure canonical: https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-28T22:30:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:48:42.324Z article:section: Health og:title: Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems og:description: Taking prescription pain meds, including common ones like ibuprofen and naproxen, on a regular basis may increase risk of heart failure og:url: https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bc24cadd98e25c6/6988a7febc6cfc4ac83debd3/assorted-pills-ibuprofen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2576 og:image:height: 1449 og:image:alt: Miscellaneous Drugs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems twitter:description: Taking prescription pain meds, including common ones like ibuprofen and naproxen, on a regular basis may increase risk of heart failure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bc24cadd98e25c6/6988a7febc6cfc4ac83debd3/assorted-pills-ibuprofen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Popular Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9926f0cc-dbb5-4756-a712-2f586fb5bf1a&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Hangover-Free Alcohol [Watch (HLS stream): Hangover-Free Alcohol](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yuJIaRg2.m3u8) (0:38)  _Published 2016-09-23. "Alcosynth" produces similar effects to alcohol, but doesn't cause nausea or headaches._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 28, 2016 10:30 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 28, 2016 10:30 PM UTC Painkillers can be both a blessing and a curse. They’re effective at numbing everything from the inflammation that comes with infection to headaches and the achy joints of arthritis. But recent studies have [exposed some serious side effects](http://time.com/3952889/painkillers-safety/), including increased risk of heart events. The newest class of these drugs, [COX-2 inhibitors](http://content.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2106343,00.html?iid=sr-link1), seemed especially risky for the heart, leading to the [withdrawal from the market of one medication](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,709012-1,00.html) and a [Food and Drug Administration warning](http://time.com/3952889/painkillers-safety/?iid=sr-link1) on others. In a [new study](http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i4857) published in the [_BMJ_](http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i4857), researchers detail the risks associated with other prescription painkillers known as [non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)](http://time.com/83461/healing-the-hurt/). COX-2 inhibitors belong to the NSAID class, but were supposed to be [more targeted to reducing pain](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,140713,00.html?iid=sr-link2) while avoiding some of the intestinal bleeding risk associated with NSAIDs—until their heart problems were revealed. So Giovanni Corrao, from the University of Milano-Bicocca, and his team studied data from 10 million users of NSAIDs from the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the UK to better understand if NSAIDs, too, carried any increased risk to the heart. The people in the studied used 27 different types of NSAIDs, including four selective COX-2 inhibitors. When they compared NSAID use with rates of heart problems, they found that people currently using one of the painkillers had a 19% higher risk of being hospitalized for heart failure compared to those who had used the drugs in the past. The higher the dose of the NSAIDs, the higher risk of heart trouble. And seven medications in particular seemed to be linked to more heart problems: ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, indomethacin, ketorolac, nimesulide and piroxicam. Two COX-2 inhibitors, etoricoxib and rofecoxib, were also linked to higher risk. While the risk of heart failure was known, the latest findings establish that even NSAIDs that aren’t COX-2 inhibitors, which work in a different way to relieve pain, carry some risk. Since they change the way the kidneys work and alter salt metabolism, they can contribute to heart failure in people who might be susceptible to heart problems. But the study found that even people without any history of heart trouble also increased their risk of events if they took NSAIDs. The results also showed that the COX-2 inhibitors, which have caused the most concern when it came to the heart, were linked to about the same rate of heart-related hospitalizations as the other NSAIDs. Because the study looked at correlations between NSAID use and heart issues, the findings don’t imply that the prescription painkillers cause heart failure. But they suggest that doctors prescribing the drugs should discuss the potential risk with their patients and be more aware of heart-related risk factors that might make the drugs more risky for some. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/"},"headline":"Popular Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems","datePublished":"2016-09-28T22:30:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:48:42.324Z","description":"Taking prescription pain meds, including common ones like ibuprofen and naproxen, on a regular basis may increase risk of heart failure","url":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/","keywords":["Heart Disease","Drugs","Pharmaceuticals","Pain","painkillers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bc24cadd98e25c6/6988a7febc6cfc4ac83debd3/assorted-pills-ibuprofen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bc24cadd98e25c6/6988a7febc6cfc4ac83debd3/assorted-pills-ibuprofen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Miscellaneous Drugs","caption":"Miscellaneous Drugs","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/","name":"Popular Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Popular Painkillers Like Ibuprofen Are Linked to Heart Problems","description":"Taking prescription pain meds on a regular basis may increase risk of heart failure","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mTyFwkkc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-29T15:36:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mTyFwkkc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/","duration":"PT1M4S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hangover-Free Alcohol","description":"\"Alcosynth\" produces similar effects to alcohol, but doesn't cause nausea or headaches.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yuJIaRg2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-23T17:46:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yuJIaRg2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/","duration":"PT38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4512169/painkillers-ibuprofen-heart-problems/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```