Scientists are issuing a stark new warning for people who have
had a heart attack and continue to use popular painkillers like
Advil (ibuprofen) or Celebrex (celecoxib): Don't take them
unless you absolutely have to. Danish researchers report that
taking these nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs — or NSAIDs —
after a heart attack greatly increases the risk of death or a
second heart attack, and the risk persists for years. "It's very
frightening. There seems to be no safe treatment window" for
NSAIDs once you've had a heart attack, said Anne-Marie
Schjerning Olsen, a cardiologist at Copenhagen University
Hospital Gentofte who, along with colleagues, reviewed the
records of nearly 100,000 patients who had suffered a heart
attack between 1997 and 2009. About 44 percent of them received
at least one prescription for an NSAID. Among people who didn't
take NSAIDs, Olsen says, the cardiovascular risk after a first
heart attack declines rapidly during the first year. "After five
to 10 years it's almost the same" as