Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, may lead to serious complications among older adults or patients with poor kidney function. There are guidelines used by doctors which describe that NSAIDs may cause a significant drop in kidney function or increase in the levels of potassium in the blood. This may then lead to further illness or even death among already fragile patients. However, the evidence for these guidelines is not very strong. We performed a study of all older adults in Ontario who received new NSAID prescriptions and compared the number of patients who had reduced kidney function and high potassium levels to similar older adults who did not receive any NSAID prescriptions over our study period. We found that NSAID users had a 40-50% higher chance of developing these complications within 30 days of starting their medication compared to people not receiving NSAID prescriptions. We also developed an online tool to identify which older adults are most at risk based on simple information such as age, sex, receipt of other prescriptions, and kidney function when starting NSAIDs. This allows doctors to identify patients who should not take NSAIDs or patients who can start NSAID therapy but should be closely monitored for potential complications.