This study aimed to investigate the potential link between NSAIDs (both COX-2 inhibitors and traditional nonselective NSAIDs) and heart failure in patients without a history of heart failure.
However, data from clinical trials have suggested that the prolong use of COX-2 inhibitors are also associated with life threatening cardiovascular side effects including ischemic heart failure and myocardial infection.
However, the simultaneous inhibition of COX-2 in the vasculature translates into a prothrombotic phenotype and promotes hypertension and heart failure.
This may hold true for other systems because long term use of selective COX-2 inhibitors such as VIOXX and BEXTRA was associated with heart failure, leading to their withdrawal.