Are heartburn drugs bad for your health?
They relieve acid reflux fast but could cause problems down the road.
1 of 5
Slide 1
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, a gastroenterologist at Digestive Health Associates in Los Angeles, California. These medicines are available over the counter, under brand names including Prilosec and Nexium.
According to Dr. Bedford, while some patients, like those who have been diagnosed with a peptic ulcer, might be on PPIs temporarily (usually for a couple of months), those who suffer from chronic heartburn could be on them for years, or even indefinitely. Unfortunately, long-term use of PPIs has been linked to several potentially dangerous conditions.
Sources: U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Over-The-Counter (OTC) Heartburn Treatment. Content current as of: March 12 + 15
- 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.
Recommended for you
How can I be more consistent?