Among patients with a musculoskeletal disorder and hypertension, heart failure (HF), or chronic kidney disease (CKD), prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use was common in high-risk patients; however, use was not associated with increased risk of short-term, safety-related outcomes. This according to a retrospective cohort study of primary care patients (aged ≥65 years) with a musculoskeletal disorder and a history of hypertension, HF, or CKD between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2016. Multiple cardiovascular and renal safety-related outcomes were observed between 8 and 37 days after each visit. Researchers found:

• Among a retrospective cohort of 2,415,291 musculoskeletal-related primary care visits by 814,049 older adult patients with hypertension, HF, or CKD, 9.3% of visits resulted in prescription NSAID use within the following 7 days.
• The median physician-level prescribing rate was 11.0% with widespread physician-level variation.
• Prescription NSAID use was not associated with increased risk of safety-related outcomes at 37 days.