Ibuprofen sat at 1.84 and piroxicam at 7.43 for serious gut trouble
Against taking nothing, the relative risk of a serious upper-gut complication ran 1.84 on ibuprofen, 3.34 on diclofenac, 4.10 on naproxen and 7.43 on piroxicam.
What the study found
Serious gut complications run from 1.84 to 7.43 within one class
The relative risk of a serious upper-gut complication, set against taking nothing, ran from 1.84 on ibuprofen through 3.34 on diclofenac and 4.10 on naproxen up to 7.43 on piroxicam. All are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs; the shared class name says little.
The caveat · Each study counted harm differently
These come from observational studies whose definitions of a serious complication and methods of recording who took what varied, which the authors flag themselves. The intervals are wide for the less-studied drugs, running from 1.07 to 17.81 for diflunisal. No absolute risk is supplied, and it turns heavily on age and ulcer history. Several of the drugs ranked are not in common use in most markets.