The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for coronavirus infection COVID-19

The pandemic caused by the coronavirus infection COVID-19 is a topic that is in the spotlight of the world community. Any news related to this global problem is immediately reflected in the media and becomes available to everyone.

Thus, on March 14, the French government reported serious side effects arising from the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in particular ibuprofen, in patients with COVID-19 infection. French Health Minister Oliver Veran tweeted that the use of NSAIDs (ibuprofen) may worsen course of COVID-19.

On March 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted that, based on all available information, there is currently no proven scientific evidence linking the use of over-the-counter ibuprofen to an exacerbation of COVID-19.

In this situation, it is necessary to understand that ibuprofen, like any other representative of a large group of NSAIDs for respiratory infections, helps reduce fever and alleviate the symptoms of a viral infection due to the antipyretic and analgesic effects characteristic of this group of drugs. Along with this, when using NSAIDs in patients with acute respiratory viral diseases, one should remember the possibility of developing class-specific complications from the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system and kidneys. This risk appears to be quite serious in older patients with multiple comorbidities.

To date, there is still no clear data indicating the risk of specific complications when using drugs from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and in particular ibuprofen, during COVID-19 infection. There is also no clear clinical evidence that taking NSAIDs increases the risk of infection with the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, the majority of experts express a reserved attitude towards ibuprofen as an antipyretic drug for coronavirus infection.

The drug of choice in this ambiguous situation is paracetamol, a drug that does not belong to the NSAID group, but has a sufficient antipyretic effect.

For an adult patient, the maximum single dose of paracetamol is 1000 mg, the maximum daily dose is 4000 mg.

When taking this drug, you must remember that paracetamol is part of many combination drugs used for the symptomatic treatment of respiratory viral infections (antigrippin, angricold, angrimax, antiflu, aflumed, influenzaflex, influpomix, etc.) - to control the daily dose, you must take into account paracetamol content in these combination drugs.