Analgesic consumption and impaired renal function

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Data on 6407 consecutive medical patients admitted to hospital have been analyzed to assess the relationship between regular analgesic ingestion and impaired renal function. A history of daily oral analgesic use was given by 461 patients (7.2 per cent). From the data presented we conclude that the frequency of renal damage was not significantly higher among regular analgesic consumers, when compared with occasional analgesic consumers or patients who denied consumption of analgesics. In addition, there was no evidence of a relationship between increasing duration of daily analgesic consumption and renal disease, except in the case of females over age 60 yr, where the presence of white blood cells in the urine was associated with increasing duration of daily analgesic use; this finding may have occurred by chance, however. The data provide no evidence of a causal association between analgesic consumption and the subsequent development of impaired renal function.