ArticleBMJ open2024
NSAID prescribing and adverse outcomes in common infections: a population-based cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Appropriateness and Abuse of Antipyretics, Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Antibiotics in Children and Adults.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Paracetamol and NSAIDs for Fever and Pain Management in Children with Chronic Diseases: A Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Necrosis of the diaphragm pleural empyema and pneumomediastinum as rare complications of appendicitis: A case report.IDCases · 2026Article
- The anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib is metabolized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa CYP107S1 in vitro and in vivo.Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals · 2025Article
- Relative effectiveness and gastrointestinal safety of NSAIDs being prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections: an explorative cohort study in primary care.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2025Article
- The 2023 Garrod Lecture: Antimicrobial use and stewardship in primary care: what works, and what next?The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Urinary Tract Infection in Children: An Up-To-Date Study.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Optimising pediatric paracetamol and ibuprofen use: a retrospective study with expert evaluation of efficacy, safety, and healthcare costs.Global & regional health technology assessmentArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesInfections in primary care are often treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). This study evaluates whether NSAID prescribing is associated with adverse outcomes for respiratory (RTIs) or urinary track (UTI) infections.
objectivesTo determine whether there is an association between NSAID prescribing and the rate of adverse outcomes for infections for individual consulting in primary care.
designCohort study of electronic health records.
setting87 general practices in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD.
participants142 925 patients consulting with RTI or UTI. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Repeat consultations, hospitalisation or death within 30 days of the initial consultation for RTI or UTI. Poisson models estimated the associations between NSAID exposure and outcome. Rate ratios were adjusted for gender, age, ethnicity, deprivation, antibiotic use, seasonal influenza vaccination status, comorbidities and general practice. Since prescribing variations by practice are not explained by case mix-hence, less impacted by confounding by indication-both individual-level and practice-level analyses are included.
resultsThere was an increase in hospital admission/death for acute NSAID prescriptions (RR 2.73, 95% CI 2.10 to 3.56) and repeated NSAID prescriptions (6.47, 4.46-9.39) in RTI patients, and for acute NSAID prescriptions for UTI (RR 3.03; 1.92 to 4.76). Practice-level analysis, controlling for practice population characteristics, found that for each percentage point increase in NSAID prescription, the percentages of hospital admission/death within 30 days increased by 0.32 percentage points (95% CI 0.16 to 0.47).
conclusionsIn this non-randomised study, prescription of NSAIDs at consultations for RTI or UTIs in primary care is infrequent but may be associated with increased risk of hospital admission. This supports other observational and limited trial data that NSAID prescribing might be associated with worse outcomes following acute infection and should be prescribed with caution.
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