PPI drugs might increase death risk: study

Popular heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPI) might increase death risk, according to new research.

It was not the first time that the drugs had been linked to health dangers. Studies conducted earlier had linked the drugs with kidney problems, dementia, and bone fractures, although not all researchers had agreed.

In the new study, the odds of dying increased the longer people had been on the drugs, according to senior study author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, director of clinical epidemiology at the VA St Louis Healthcare System.

For over five years, his team tracked people who took prescription PPIs such as Nexium and Prilosec and compared them to people who took other drugs (such as Zantac or Pepcid) that lowered stomach acid known as H2 blockers. The study did not cover PPI drugs that could be bought over the counter.

As against H2 blocker users, "people who take PPIs for about a year have about a 25-per cent higher risk of death," said Al-Aly, who was also an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, www.webmd.com reported.

According to Al-Aly, as millions of people took PPIs regularly, that 25 per cent chance could translate into thousands of deaths a year.

''We saw a small excess risk of dying that could be attributed to the PPI drug, and the risk increased the longer they took them,'' said Al-Aly.

According to the team, the study suggested those who took the drugs without needing to could be most at risk and called on people taking PPIs to check whether this was necessary.

Earlier research had raised several concerns about PPIs, including links to kidney disease, pneumonia, more hip fractures and higher rates of infection with C difficile, a superbug that could cause life-threatening sepsis, especially in elderly people in hospitals.