This Morning: Dr Ellie explains paracetamol and heart disease link
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There are a number of painkillers readily available that can help to ease everyday aches and pains. Paracetamol is one of the most common over-the-counter painkillers sold in the UK. Most people pop paracetamol without thinking about it but a new study makes a case for rethinking this approach.
The study, published in the European Heart Journal, found hidden salt in certain types of paracetamol increases risk of heart disease.
“This could be concerning,” said Doctor Ellie on This Morning.
The doc advised: “If you have high blood pressure and take paracetamol, check with your GP how much sodium is in your paracetamol.”
What did the research entail?
More than 4,500 patients with high blood pressure who had been prescribed sodium-containing paracetamol were compared with 146,866 patients who had high blood pressure and had been prescribed paracetamol without sodium.
The comparison showed the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart failure after one year for patients with high blood pressure taking sodium-containing paracetamol was 5.6 percent, while it was 4.6 percent among those taking non-sodium-containing paracetamol.
The one-year risk of death was also higher at 7.6 percent (404 deaths) versus 6.1 percent (5,510 deaths).
Meanwhile, there was a similar increased risk among patients without high blood pressure.
Among those taking sodium-containing paracetamol, the one-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk was 4.4 percent, compared to 3.7 percent for those taking non-sodium-containing paracetamol. The risk of dying was 7.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.
All patients were aged 60–90 years and the researchers followed them up for a year.
Professor Chao Zeng from Xiangya Hospital in China led the research, and said his team also found that the risk of cardiovascular disease and death increased as the duration of sodium-containing paracetamol intake increased.
“The risk of cardiovascular disease increased by a quarter for patients with high blood pressure who had one prescription of sodium-containing paracetamol, and it increased by nearly a half for patients who had five or more prescriptions of sodium-containing paracetamol,” he said.
“We saw similar increases in people without high blood pressure. The risk of death also increased with increasing doses of sodium-containing paracetamol in both patients with and without high blood pressure.”
Salt is used in some soluble paracetamol because it can encourage the process of the breakdown of the tablet in water.
Experts have said that some people can exceed their recommended daily salt limit through a full course of salt-containing paracetamol alone.
Others called for front of pack warnings for paracetamol which contains high levels of salt.
Medics also said that people should be prescribed drug formulations with an extremely low amount of salt or none at all.
Adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day (2.4g sodium) – that’s around one teaspoon.
In the UK labels on pre-packed food must say how much salt they contain.
“Look out for the salt content in the everyday foods you buy, and choose lower-salt options,” advises the NHS.
The health body adds: “Most pre-packed foods have a nutrition label on the back or side of the packaging.”
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