Tylenol and hypertension

Filed in archive Studies on August 15, 2005

A reminder that any OTC medication can have untoward effects. First it was the NSAIDs and COX-2s (like Vioxx) - now a recent study links Tylenol with high blood pressure.

First of all, let me say Tylenol is an extremely safe medication. The study looked at chronic users of Tylenol - taking 500mg per day for several years. Those taking NSAIDs also had a higher risk of developing hypertension. Only aspirin was not associated with hypertension:

The current study finds that whether or not a woman suffered from headaches, the drugs still increased her risk of high blood pressure.

The study, which appears in the September issue of Hypertension, lumped ibuprofen, naproxen, and similar drugs into a single category: NSAIDs. About 80% of the women using NSAIDs were taking ibuprofen. Taking more than 400 milligrams of NSAIDs per day upped the risk of high blood pressure by 78% in older women and by 60% in younger women.

Daily use of more than 500 milligrams of acetaminophen raised the risk of high blood pressure by 93% in older women and by 99% in younger women.

Again, more studies are needed. This is a reminder that every medicine has side effects, whether they are OTC or not. (DeNoon, "Common Pain Drugs Up High Blood Pressure Risk", WebMD, Aug.15; Forman et al., "Non-Narcotic Analgesic Dose and Risk of Incident Hypertension in US Women", Hypertension, Aug.15)