An arthritis patient's drug can prove out to be risky as it can double the risk of heart attack and strokes, as per a recent Danish study. The team examined 30,000 patients with atrial fibrillation from 1999 to 2008 and claimed that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can increase the risk of an irregular heart rhythm by 40%.

While a sample group on painkillers known as Cox-2 inhibitors, which include Celebrex and other common drugs for arthritis, was found to have escalated the risk by a shocking 70%.

Though earlier studies had associated risk of heart disease with ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, known as NSAIDs, and Cox-2 inhibitors, this is perhaps for the first time that the drug caught the attention of medical fraternity with such pace.

Published in the British Medical Journal, the study revealed that aged patients with rheumatoid arthritis or with chronic kidney disease are at a heightened risk of heart diseases.

Responding to the news, Prof Henrik Toft Sørensen, who led the study, said though patients are at a high risk, though "The absolute risk is still low. It increases your risk from a very low level to a higher - but still low - level".