Use painkillers sparingly, US doctors urge

New York

THE US Food and Drug Administration warned last week that the risk of heart attack and stroke from widely used painkillers that include Motrin IB, Aleve and Celebrex but not aspirin was greater than it previously had said. But what does that mean for people who take them?

Experts said that the warning reflected the gathering evidence that there was risk even in small amounts of the drug, so-called nonaspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, and that everyone taking them should use them sparingly for brief periods. Millions of Americans take them.