Does Advil Cause Heart Attacks?

Maybe. But Maybe not. In a highly publicized study from the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2017;357:j1909) researchers from McGill University (my medical school) did a retrospective statistical analysis of several studies. Using data from other publications where heart attacks were reported, they looked to see if NSAIDs (like advil, aleve, etc) were more likely to have been taken in the month prior to the heart attack in those patients versus the control population.

They found that there was a 20-50% increased probability of the use of these drugs in the week or month before the heart attack.

So what does this mean? I interpreted the results to mean that many patients mistook their chest pain for muscular and took readily available advil or aleve. Or does it mean that those people who had major blockages made it worse by taking these? Surely taking Advil for a week in a normal person would not cause a heart attack!

So no, I don't trust this entirely - even though it was done at McGill. But as usual moderation is the key. And if you don't know what is causing that chest discomfort don't assume its muscular!