A high dose carried two to three times the gut risk of a low one
High daily doses of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug carried two to three times the serious upper-gut risk of low ones. Raised heart-attack odds appeared within one to seven days.
What the study found
The risk climbs with the dose, and it starts in the first week
A high daily dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID, carried two to three times the serious upper-gut complication risk of a low dose of the same drug. In everyday prescribing, raised heart-attack odds appeared within one to seven days, and rose with dose.
The caveat · Relative risks, no absolute figure
These are relative risks, and the review does not supply an absolute one, which turns heavily on age and ulcer history. What counted as a serious complication varied between the pooled studies. The high-dose randomised data come from prescription-level regimens given to people with arthritis, not from the occasional tablet. Risk did not appear to keep climbing past the first month.