The anti-inflammatory painkiller diclofenac has been found to increase the risk of heart attacks or strokes. The drug is commonly used for arthritis, back pain, gout, severe headaches, and the flu. The people that were on this drug were found to have a 40% more risk of having a heart attack or stroke than those who had not taken the drug according to research. When taking higher doses the risk is almost doubled. There were about 6 million prescriptions written for this drug in England and it is also sold over the counter. There are many different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) that are being tested to see which are relatively safe and which could cause severe damage. Because diclofenac is the most commonly used NSAID it has put more people at risk. Healthy young women will experience an increase in cardiovascular risk with the use of any of the commonly used NSAIDs.
This is a global social problem because this drug could affect millions of people worldwide. Diclofenac is not the only drug causing the increase in heart attacks or strokes. Other NSAIDs are having the same affect on people. This increased risk is also found in young healthy people as well. There are many people that suffer from arthritis, back pain, gout, severe headaches, and flu. If all of these people were treated with NSAIDs there risk would increase and may cause an economic downfall if too many people got severely sick or died from the side effects. There are always side effects to medications but when the risks are as high as 40% in some cases something needs to be done to find an alternate drug.
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