COVID-19 and Avoiding Ibuprofen. How Good Is the Evidence?
Open accessAbstract
Ibuprofen is an over-the-counter medication that is used widely for the treatment of pain and fever during COVID-19 pandemic. A concern was raised regarding the safety of ibuprofen use because of its role in increasing ACE2 levels within the Renin–Angiotensin–Aldosterone system. ACE2 is the coreceptor for the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cells, and so, a potential increased risk of contracting COVID-19 disease and/or worsening of COVID-19 infection was feared with ibuprofen use. However, available data from limited studies show administration of recombinant ACE2 improves lung damage caused by respiratory viruses, suggesting ibuprofen use may be beneficial in COVID-19 disease. At this time, there is no supporting evidence to discourage the use of ibuprofen.
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- Authors
- Kutti Sridharan, G., Kotagiri, R., Chandiramani, V. H., Mohan, B. P., Vegunta, R., Vegunta, R., & Rokkam, V. R. P.
- Affiliations
- Department of Internal Medicine, Banner University Medical Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ;
- University of Arizona (US)
- Sanford Health (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Therapeutics
- Published
- 2020-04-24
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e400-e402
- ISSN
- 1075-2765 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7242088
- OpenAlex
- W3022151458
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 1.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Therapeutics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Renin-Angiotensin System Studies
- Keywords
- ibuprofen, COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, ACE2, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, over-the-counter analgesics, drug safety, lung injury, respiratory viruses, evidence evaluation
- MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors, Animals, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal, Humans, Ibuprofen, Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A, Lung, Pneumonia, Viral, Receptors, Virus, Renin-Angiotensin System, Coronavirus Infections, Evidence-Based Medicine, Pandemics
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