Naproxen sodium did not lead to substantially more upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding than ibuprofen during short term use as an analgesic.

Participants Patients were eligible if they had received benefits from Ohio Medicaid or Michigan Medicaid and had received naproxen sodium or ibuprofen, but not both drugs. From a cohort of 378 919 patients in the Computerized On-Line Medical Pharmaceutical Analysis and Surveillance System (COMPASS), 59 patients (54% men) who were admitted to hospital for upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding within 14 days of their first prescription for naproxen sodium (n=26) or ibuprofen (n=33) were selected as case patients; a random sample of 37 891 patients (71% women) was selected as a subcohort to determine relative prescription rates (n=10 024 for naproxen sodium; n=27 867 for ibuprofen).