Well, according to a new study, it’s exactly that that may be heightening our chances of suffering a potentially fatal cardiac arrest.
Despite being one of the most popular over-the-counter painkillers in the UK, it is allegedly connected with the condition.
In fact, researchers in Denmark found that taking ibuprofen was associated with a 31% increased risk of a cardiac arrest, which occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood.
Other medicines from the same family of painkillers, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), posed a similar danger, according to the findings.
Experts are warning of the risks (Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire)
They included diclofenac, which raised the risk by 50%, and was available over the counter in the UK until 2015.
Today, it can only be obtained on prescription.
Heart expert Professor Gunnar Gislason, who led the study, called for tighter controls on NSAIDs.
He said: ‘Allowing these drugs to be purchased without a prescription, and without any advice or restrictions, sends a message to the public that they must be safe.
‘The findings are a stark reminder that NSAIDs are not harmless.
‘Diclofenac and ibuprofen, both commonly used drugs, were associated with significantly increased risk of cardiac arrest.
‘NSAIDs should be used with caution and for a valid indication. They should probably be avoided in patients with cardiovascular disease or many cardiovascular risk factors.
‘I don’t think these drugs should be sold in supermarkets or petrol stations where there is no professional advice on how to use them.
‘Over-the-counter NSAIDs should only be available at pharmacies, in limited quantities and in low doses.’
It could lead to cardiac arrest (Picture: Getty Images)
The most common cause of a cardiac arrest is a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF).
It causes electrical activity in the heart to become so chaotic that the organ ceases to pump rhythmically and quivers or ‘fibrillates’ instead.
Without immediate treatment to keep the circulation going, death occurs in minutes.
Sales of over-the-counter painkillers amounted to almost £600 million in the UK in 2015, according to The Pharmaceutical Journal.
The Danish investigators studied data on all patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the country between 2001 and 2010.
For every patient, use of NSAIDs during the month before a cardiac arrest was compared with use in the 30 days leading up to that point.
Comparing the two periods for each individual eliminated the chances of chronic conditions swaying the end result.
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