At the start of the epidemic, fear was on everyone’s lips about taking ibuprofen. But, according to a recent study, taking anti-inflammatory drugs does not increase the risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19 or of dying from it.
The risks are zero. “The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is not associated with increased mortality or severity of Covid-19”, affirms this vast study of the British health authorities, published in the medical journal The Lancet Rheumatology. “We now have clear evidence that NSAIDs can be used safely in patients who have Covid-19”, said lead author of the study, Prof. Ewen Harrison (University of Edinburgh), quoted in a statement.
Suspicions at the start of the pandemic
“Taking anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, cortisone, etc.) could be a worsening factor for the Covid infection”, had tweeted a year ago the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, advising to favor paracetamol in case of fever. The WHO had also expressed doubts about the use of ibuprofen in the event of the onset of symptoms of Covid-19. On the side of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) “There is currently no scientific evidence linking ibuprofen to worsening coronavirus”, had advanced the public agency.
“No significant difference” with or without ibuprofen
To carry out this study, British researchers consulted data from 72,000 SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted to more than 250 health centers in the United Kingdom. Among them, 4,211 had consumed NSAIDs (mainly ibuprofen) before their hospitalization. “At the time of hospital admission, we did not observe any significant difference between the two groups in terms of the severity of the patients’ condition”, comment the scientists. According to the results of the study, the proportion of deaths was similar among patients who had taken (30.4%) of NSAIDs and those who had not taken them (31.3%). Professor Ewen Harrison of the University of Edinburgh says that “We now have clear evidence that NSAIDs can be used safely in patients who have Covid-19”.
However, the authors concede that there are some limitations to their conclusions. Namely, the fact that they do not know how long patients have been taking NSAIDs, or whether they are taking them in the long term for different medical reasons.
