Common painkillers are ‘not very effective’ and ‘double your risk of heart disease’

Widely prescribed painkillers are not effective in relieving pain, scientists say.

They also warn that it may increase the risk of serious side effects, including heart disease.

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Tramadol is a powerful prescription-only opiate painkiller used to treat moderate to severe pain, for example, after surgery or serious injury.

They may be prescribed for long-term pain when mild painkillers no longer work.

According to the NHS, tramadol won’t completely stop the pain, but it will prevent you from feeling it as much.

Its use has surged in recent years because it is safer, less addictive, and has fewer side effects than other opioid drugs.

Tramadol is currently one of the most commonly prescribed opioids in the United States, according to researchers at the Center for Clinical Intervention Research in Denmark.

In the UK, prescribing rules for the drug have been tightened due to concerns about misuse, dependence and harm.

new research BMJ Evidence-Based MedicineIt was found to be ineffective in relieving chronic pain.

They believe tramadol’s potential harm may be due to its profitIt warns that its use should be kept to a minimum.

Researchers conducted a clinical trial published through February 2025 comparing tramadol with placebo and dummy treatment in patients with chronic pain, including cancer pain.

It included 19 clinical trials including 6,506 participants with chronic pain.

Five looked at the effects of tramadol on neuropathic pain caused by damage to the nervous system.

Nine studies focused on osteoarthritis, four looked at chronic back pain, and one focused on fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that causes pain throughout the body.

Participants were between 47 and 69 years old, and most took tramadol in tablet form for 2 to 16 weeks.

The study followed with patients 3 to 15 weeks later.

Analysis of data from the trial results found that Tramadol relieved pain, but only to a lesser extent than is considered clinically effective.

Eight trials tracked serious side effects for up to 16 weeks after tramadol treatment.

The researchers’ statistical analysis found that Tramadol patients had twice the risk of harm compared to placebo pills.

Higher ‘cardiac events’ such as chest pain, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure were recorded among tramadol takers.

This doesn’t necessarily mean one causes the other. Only tramadol use has been linked to heart disease.

Tramadol use was also associated with a higher risk of some cancers, but the researchers labeled this finding “suspicious” because the trial’s follow-up period was short.

Finally, tramadol treatment also came with a higher risk of several mild side effects, including nausea, dizziness, constipation, and drowsiness.

The researchers concluded: “Tramadol may have a small effect in reducing chronic pain (high-certainty evidence) and may increase the risk of serious (moderate certainty) and serious side effects (very low-evidence) (very low-evidence).

“The potential harms associated with tramadol use for pain management likely outweigh the limited benefits.”

The researchers acknowledge that their results are at high risk of bias.

But they argued that it was more likely that their findings overestimated tramadol’s beneficial effects and underestimated its harms.

They noted: “Worldwide, approximately 60 million individuals experience the addictive effects of opioids.

“In 2019, drug use was responsible for approximately 600,000 deaths, with nearly 80% of deaths involving opioids and approximately 25% due to opioid overdose.

“In the United States, the number of opioid-related overdose deaths increased from 49,860 in 2019 to 81,806 in 2022.

“I gave you this trend And with current findings, the use of tramadol and other opioids should be minimized to the greatest extent possible.”