Introduction:
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used to treat pain, fever, and inflammation, but their ubiquitous use has led to concerns over increased risk of adverse cardiovascular (CV) events, particularly in patients with established CV disease (CVD). In 2005, the FDA revised labels for all NSAIDs to include a boxed warning highlighting the potential for increased CV risk. However, little is known regarding real-world prescribing of NSAIDs among patients with CVD. Our objective was to characterize the use of prescription NSAIDs among patients with CVD from 1988-2016 in the U.S.
Methods:
Using cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1988-1994 and 1999-2016, we included participants aged ≥18 years with hypertension (defined by self-report, mean blood pressure ≥140/90, or use of an antihypertensive medication), or aged ≥20 years with ≥1 of the following self-reported heart disease conditions: congestive heart failure (CHF), coronary heart disease (CHD), angina, myocardial infarction (MI), or stroke. Survey-weighted data were analyzed to assess prevalence and trends of prescription NSAID use within each CVD population in 6-year examination periods.
Results:
Overall, prescription NSAID use declined among all U.S. CVD populations over the study period. Prevalence of prescription NSAID use was highest during the 1999-2004 examination years, but thereafter, declined during the 2005-2010 examination years for those with hypertension (13.9% to 8.8%), CHF (14.6% to 8.5%), CHD (16.3% to 7.0%), angina (17.6% to 9.73%), MI (16.1% to 8.2%), and stroke (15.7% to 8.8%). Use of prescription NSAIDs since the 2005-2010 examination years has remained consistent in all CVD populations. These decreases were driven in part by reduced use of COX-2-selective NSAIDs, whereas non-selective NSAID use among all CVD populations was relatively steady from 1999 to 2016.
Conclusions:
Prescription NSAID use among patients with CVD appears to have declined from 1988 to 2016, primarily because of less COX-2 NSAID use following removal of 2 approved agents. Otherwise, the prevalence of prescription NSAIDs has remained somewhat stable and relatively high among these high-risk CV populations. Our results suggest additional efforts may be needed to limit the use of NSAIDs among patients with CVD, given that these agents are known to be associated with adverse CVD outcomes.
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