Common painkillers may be linked to increased heart risks.

Reuters (5/30, Kelland) reports that research (5/30) published in the Lancet suggests that high doses of certain painkillers may be linked to an increased heart risks.

        Bloomberg News (5/30, Kitamura) reports that researchers looked at data on approximately 353,000 patients. The investigators found that during one “year of treatment, for every 1,000 patients with moderate heart disease risk who took 2,400 milligrams of ibuprofen or 150 milligrams of diclofenac, both daily doses standard for arthritis, three patients would experience an avoidable heart attack.” This “risk was comparable to that associated with the newer Cox-2 inhibitor class of painkillers that includes Pfizer’s Celebrex [celecoxib], Merck’s Arcoxia [etoricoxib] and Vioxx [rofecoxib], which Merck withdrew in 2004 after research linked it to heart attacks and strokes.”