Certain pain relievers may increase risk for heart attack during cold, flu

Though many people take pain relievers to ease a sore throat or headache when enduring the flu or a cold, new research says doing so could increase the risk of suffering a heart attack.

The observational study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, included claims from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Program from 2005 to 2011. The program included data from nearly 10,000 patients who had been hospitalized for a heart attack.

The researchers compared the patients’ risk for heart attack over time with episodes of respiratory illness and their use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Results showed that it was more likely for a heart attack to occur when both risk factors were present. Taking pain medication during an infection was associated with a 3.4-fold increased risk for heart attack, while patients with an illness that were not taking medications were only at a 2.7 times great risk.

Findings suggested that physicians and patients should use caution when prescribing or taking pain medications when aiming to ease symptoms of acute respiratory infections.

"Physicians should be aware that the use of NSAIDs during an acute respiratory infection might further increase the risk of a heart attack," said study author Cheng-Chung Fang, MD, a general physician at the National Taiwan University Hospital, in a statement.

Fang recommends that patients seeking relief from cold and flu symptoms should discuss it with their doctor first, and that acetaminophen could be a safer alternative to NSAIDs.

Additional research is needed to fully understand the combined effect on risk and how the effect could be managed. Future studies could examine which specific medications are safest for patients with the flu or a cold.