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Are heartburn drugs bad for your health?

They relieve acid reflux fast but could cause problems down the road.

Updated on June 9, 2022

a middle aged Black woman begins to take a pill with a glass of water
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Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are widely used medicines that relieve heartburn by reducing stomach acid production. For that purpose, they're quite effective.

“It is probably one of the most popular drugs prescribed worldwide for treatment of heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), and it has been around since 1989,” says Rudolph A. Bedford, MD, aShow More

germs, microbes, bacteria
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Clostridium difficile

Ongoing PPI use has been associated with an increased risk of having a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), which can cause inflammation of the colon, known as colitis. This condition causes frequent watery diarrhea, possibly along with abdominal pain and fever.

In a 2021 article in Show More

a middle aged white man speaks with a pharmacist about medicines, while placing his hand on his chest
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Heart disease

Some lab research suggests that chronic use of PPIs may speed up the aging process that takes place in the cells that line the inside of the blood vessels. The end result is a possible increased risk of heart attack and renal (kidney) failure.

A number of studies have shown that PPIs may increaseShow More

mature couple, conversation, worried, husband, wife, clasped hands
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Dementia

After analyzing the data of 73,679 adults 75 years of age or older, researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases found that 29,510 of people in the study developed dementia. Those who regularly took PPIs had a 44 percent increased risk of memory loss compared to those who wereShow More

a doctor in a white coat holds a model of a kidney to demonstrate signs of kidney disease
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Kidney disease

In November 2016, two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) highlighted the possible damaging effects PPIs may have on the kidneys.

The first study included roughly 187,000 participants who did not have kidney stones. In a follow-up of up to 12Show More

Slideshow sources open slideshow sources

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Over-The-Counter (OTC) Heartburn Treatment. Content current as of: March 12, 2021.
Tawam D, Baladi M, Jungsuwadee P, Earl G, Han J. The Positive Association between Proton Pump Inhibitors and Clostridium Difficile Infection. Innov Pharm. 2021;12(1):10.24926/iip.v12i1.3439. Published 2021 Mar 9.
Trifan A, Stanciu C, Girleanu I, et al. Proton pump inhibitors therapy and risk of Clostridium difficile infection: Systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23(35):6500-6515.
McDonald EG, Milligan J, Frenette C, Lee TC. Continuous Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy and the Associated Risk of Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(5):784-791.
Leontiadis GI, Miller MA, Howden CW. How much do PPIs contribute to C. difficile infections?. Am J Gastroenterol. 2012;107(7):1020-1021.
Trifan A, Stanciu C, Girleanu I, et al. Proton pump inhibitors therapy and risk of Clostridium difficile infection: Systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23(35):6500-6515.
Ariel H, Cooke JP. Cardiovascular Risk of Proton Pump Inhibitors. Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2019;15(3):214-219.
Bell, Elizabeth, J., Bielinski, Suzette, J., St. Sauver, Jennifer, L., Chen, Lin, Y., Roonery, Mary, R., Larson, Nicholas, B., Takahashi, Paul, Y., Folson, Aaron, R., Association of Proton Pump Inhibitors With Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Heart Failure. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. October 1, 2021.2540-2549. 96.
Gomm W, von Holt K, Thomé F, et al. Association of Proton Pump Inhibitors With Risk of Dementia: A Pharmacoepidemiological Claims Data Analysis. JAMA Neurol. 2016;73(4):410-416.
Torres-Bondia, F., Dakterzada, F., Galván, L. et al. Proton pump inhibitors and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and non-Alzheimer’s dementias. Sci Rep 10, 21046 (2020).
American Society of Nephrology. Risk of Bias in Observational Studies Assessing the Relationship Between Proton Pump Inhibitors and Adverse Kidney Outcomes. November 4, 2021.
Xie Y, Bowe B, Li T, Xian H, Yan Y, Al-Aly Z. Long-term kidney outcomes among users of proton pump inhibitors without intervening acute kidney injury. Kidney Int. 2017;91(6):1482-1494.
Wu, B., Li, D., Xu, T. et al. Proton pump inhibitors associated acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease: data mining of US FDA adverse event reporting system. Sci Rep 11, 3690 (2021).
Hart E, Dunn TE, Feuerstein S, Jacobs DM. Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Acute and Chronic Kidney Disease: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Pharmacotherapy. 2019;39(4):443-453.
Rodríguez-Poncelas A, Barceló MA, Saez M, Coll-de-Tuero G. Duration and dosing of Proton Pump Inhibitors associated with high incidence of chronic kidney disease in population-based cohort. PLoS One. 2018;13(10):e0204231. Published 2018 Oct 17.
Xie Y, Bowe B, Li T, Xian H, Yan Y, Al-Aly Z. Long-term kidney outcomes among users of proton pump inhibitors without intervening acute kidney injury. Kidney Int. 2017;91(6):1482-1494.

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