In February of 2016, the Journal of American Nephrology published a study called “Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Incident CKD and Progression to ESRD”.
Using the Department of Veteran Affairs national databases, they were able to compile a list of patients to use for the study.
There were approximately 173,321 using a proton pump inhibitor, and 20,270 people assigned to H2 antagonists as a control group.
At the end of the five-year study, only 0.2% of patients developed end-stage kidney failure.
However, the risk of developing it was 96% higher than users of H2 blockers.
Exposure to PPI use played a factor in the risk of developing kidney failure.
If you have been using a PPI for more than 30 days, there is a higher graded risk of renal malfunction.
Overall, results from this study suggested that PPI use is associated with an increased risk of an incident for Chronic Kidney Disease, CKD progression and End-Stage Renal Disease.
Unfortunately, this is not the only study noting these frightening claims.
A study ran by JAMA Internal Medicine titled, “Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities” found similar results.
Between 1996 to 2011, 10,482 participants had baseline visits.
The data was analyzed in 2015 from May to October.
Among the participants, the mean age was 63 and 43.9 percent were male.
Participants who were white, obese and taking antihypertensive medication were most often using PPI’s.
As mentioned before, the results were grave.
JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that proton pump inhibitor use is associated with an increased risk of an incident of chronic kidney disease.
They believe that further research should be done to evaluate if reducing PPI use reduces the incident of CKD.
A 2016 study conducted by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that drugs used to treat heartburn and acid reflux can lead to kidney damage and failure.
The risk of kidney damage from heartburn medications increases the longer people take such medications.
The researchers, who followed patients for five years, concluded that PPI (proton pump inhibitor) use led to chronic kidney disease in 15 percent of PPI users, as compared to 11 percent with H2 blockers.
They also found PPI users to have a 98 percent risk of developing kidney failure, a rate much higher than those who used H2 blockers, although kidney failure occurred in less than one percent of the patients studied.
The researchers advised that people use PPI medications for the shortest time possible.
The March 2016 population-based study from Scotland involved approximately 565,000 adults, 188,323 of which received some form of acid suppression medication. C
ompared with individuals in the community who did not take acid suppression medications such as Nexium and Prilosec, those who did had 1.7-times and 3.70 times increased risks of C. difficile and Campylobacter, respectively.
Among hospitalized patients, those using the medications had 1.4 times and 4.5 times increased risks, respectively.
C. difficile and Campylobacter can cause considerable illness including diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, loss of appetite, fever, blood or pus in stool and weight loss.
Left untreated, these bacterial diseases can be very dangerous.
According to an April 2016 study published in JAMA Neurology, people aged 75 and older who used proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid had a 44% higher risk of dementia.
The study analyzed data from nearly 74,000 patients between 2004 and 2011 and found that PPIs appear to affect levels of amyloid beta and tau, which are proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
PPI use can also lead to vitamin B12 deficiency, which has been associated with cognitive decline.
PPIs like Nexium have been associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, renal failure, and dementia, according to a study published in the May 10, 2016 edition of the medical journal Circulation Research.
