Taking non-aspirin anti-inflammatory painkillers, or NSAIDs, does not appear to increase the risk of bleeding stroke (also called Hemorrhagic stroke), according to a study by Korean investigators.

Previous studies have shown no association between the use of non-aspirin NSAIDs and Hemorrhagic stroke, the researchers explain, but they did not include over-the-counter drugs and selective COX-2 inhibitors.

Dr. Byung-Woo Yoon from Seoul National University College of Medicine and colleagues evaluated the association of non-aspirin NSAIDs and Hemorrhagic stroke risk using data from 940 Hemorrhagic stroke cases and 940 controls.

They report in the current issue of the journal Stroke, that exposure to non-aspirin NSAIDs within 14 days before a stroke was 2.9 percent in the Hemorrhagic stroke cases and 2.0 percent among controls.

After adjustment for potentially confounding factors, there was no significant association between the use of non-aspirin NSAIDs overall, nonselective non-aspirin NSAIDs, or selective non-aspirin NSAIDs and Hemorrhagic stroke.

“The absence of an association was evident in all separate analyses with different exposure times and different classes of non-aspirin NSAIDs,” Yoon and colleagues say.

“This study supports the findings of previous epidemiological studies, suggesting that use of non-aspirin NSAIDs is not associated with an increased risk of Hemorrhagic stroke,” they conclude.

SOURCE: Stroke, March 2008.