Chronic kidney disease is a serious problem in the United States and the drugs most commonly used to treat heartburn may put the public at greater risk for contracting the deadly condition.
A new study has found that medications such as Nexium and Prilosec, which are readily available in various strengths by prescription and over the counter, could be linked to greater risks of kidney disease. Around 250,000 people participated in the study concerning the risks of these medications, known as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) in the medical community.
Morgan Grams, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, headed up the study, and found significant cause for concern.
They examined the medical records of two groups of people: 10,482 participants in the Artherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study and 248,751 patients in the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania.
Among the 322 people using PPIs in the ARIC study, the 10-year estimated absolute risk for chronic kidney disease was 11.8 percent, the researchers reported. The expected risk would have been 8.5 percent. The 10-year absolute risk among the 16,900 patients using PPIs in the Geisinger Health System was 15.6 percent, whereas 13.9 percent would have been expected to develop chronic kidney disease.
Other risks of these medications include fractures to bones and infections.
Grams is not the only medical academic to say that these drugs can be dangerous.. Adam Schoenfeld, an internal medicine resident at the University of California, San Francisco, says that he believes these drugs are over-prescribed.
“When they first came out they weren’t associated with side effects, or we didn’t think they were.” “So we put [people] on this medication thinking: ‘It’s a quick fix and they’re very safe.’ But in actuality they’re associated with a range of side effects.”
Drug companies, always concerned with the bottom line, says their drugs are perfectly safe despite the findings. AstraZeneca, the company making billions off of Nexium, said in a statement:
“Patient safety is an important priority for AstraZeneca and we believe all of our PPI medicines … are generally safe and effective when used in accordance with the label.”
“We encourage patients to work with their health care provider to determine the most appropriate treatment approach based on their individual needs.”
Of course. We’d expect nothing less. However, people shouldn’t be taking this stuff unless absolutely necessary.
Listen to a report on the story from NPR:
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