Regularly taking paracetamol that contains sodium is associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure and death, according to new research.
Findings from the Central South University in China research are published in the European Heart Journal.
Researchers analysed data from nearly 300,000 GP-registered people in the UK aged between 60 and 90.
Around half the patients had high blood pressure and half did not.
All the participants had been prescribed paracetamol, some prescribed the medicine containing sodium and some with no sodium.
The researchers then followed the participants for a year.
For those in the high blood pressure group who were prescribed sodium-containing paracetamol, the risk of stroke, heart failure or heart attack after one year was 5.6 per cent and the risk of death was 7.6 per cent.
In those with high blood pressure who took non-sodium-containing paracetamol, the risks were 4.6 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively.
Similar increases were seen in people with low blood pressure and the risks increased the longer people were taking the sodium paracetamol.
British Heart Foundation (BHF) Medical Director, Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, said:
“Eating too much salt can increase blood pressure. Cutting down on salt in our diets is an important way we can help to keep our blood pressure under control and reduce our risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
“However, this large analysis suggests that people who take some types of paracetamol may have inadvertently been consuming too much sodium, one of the main components of salt.
“This research looked at people who were taking effervescent and soluble paracetamol over a longer period.
“If you take paracetamol that contains sodium occasionally to manage an isolated headache or very short bouts of pain, these research findings should not cause unnecessary concern.”
Sodium is often used to help drugs like paracetamol dissolve in water.
An individual taking the maximum daily dose of effervescent paracetamol would exceed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2g-a-day sodium limit, the BHF said.
