Medications commonly prescribed to treat heartburn and acid reflux may increase kidney disease risk, according to new research. Three new studies show that increased use of proton pump inhibitors may be contributing to a rise in chronic kidney disease.
In one study, researchers tracked the health of more than 10,000 adults with normal kidney function at the start. Those who took PPI medications were found to be between 20 and 50 percent more likely to develop chronic kidney disease than non-users. This finding was replicated in a second study, in which over 240,000 patients were tracked. The third study followed nearly 72,000 patients and also found that use of proton pump inhibitors was associated with increased risk of kidney disease and was also associated with an increased risk of dying prematurely. One of the authors says, “As a large number of patients are being treated with PPIs, health care providers need to be better educated about the potential side effects of these drugs.”