NSAIDs TRIPLE RISK OF KIDNEY FAILURE

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) strikingly increase the risk of kidney failure, say scientists who pooled data on 103 patients with kidney failure and 5,000 people without kidney disease. Current NSAID users were 3.2 times more likely to develop acute renal failure than nonusers. Use of specific cardiovascular drugs upped the risk by 5-fold. Using NSAIDs together with calcium channel blockers upped the risk by 7.8 times with using NSAIDs in combination with diuretics boosted the risk by 11.6-fold. In addition, a history of hypertension, heart failure, diabetes or hospitalizations in the previous year was tied with an elevated chance of renal failure.

American Journal of Kidney Diseases

– March 2005; 45:331-9.
(NSAIDs are Tylinol, Motrin, Advil)