Stroke And Heart Risk Of Paracetamol

‘Drug raises chance of disease by fifth’

- Hanna Geissler

REGULAR use of paracetamol may increase risk of heart disease and strokes in people with high blood pressure, experts have warned.

The painkiller has long been considered a safer alternative in the long term to non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, which are known to increase blood pressure.

But a study has now found paracetamol can raise blood pressure by a similar amount to NSAIDs after just four days of use.

Researchers said the effect could increase risk of heart disease or stroke by around a fifth.

The findings suggest doctors should consider using smaller doses or stopping usage if the drug is not offering much benefit, they said.

Professor David Webb, chair of therapeutics and clinical pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh, said: “It’s definitely worth seeing if you could reduce the dose if you’ve been established on paracetamol and if your blood pressure is high.

“But I think there will always be a role for paracetamol and it will be a trade-off between getting the blood pressure right and the chronic pain right for those patients.”