A class of proton pump inhibitors (PPI), commonly used for acid-related diseases like heartburn, has been found to cause severe damage to the kidneys, according to studies in two medical journals.

In the United States, this group belongs to the top 10 most prescribed medications.  However, recent findings showed that PPIs such as prisolec, nexium and prevacid are attributed to chronic kidney diseases (CKD) as well as other gastrointestinal illnesses such as acute interstitial nephritis.

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Below are some of the studies linking the causal relationship between PPI and CKD.

The first study The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) was conducted with 10,482 participants and was primarily aimed at determining the cause, history and pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. The volunteers were all adults and had normal kidney function from 1996 to 2011. After participants started taking PPI drugs, 20 to 50 per cent had a chance of developing CKD compared with those who had not taken the drug.

The same study was carried out on a larger sample of 240,000 participants from 1997 to 2014, and scientists found the same results.  Furthermore, researchers tried using H2 blocker instead, a different class of medication still indicated for stomach acids, to compare. The findings showed that it increased possible risk of developing CKD; thus, lead author Benjamin Lazarus from John Hopkins University concluded that "PPI is a factor for CKD."

The second study targeted nearly a hundred thousand people who visited a primary clinic between April 2001 and April 2008. Exclusion criteria dropped the number to 71,516 people. Of these, about 30 per cent (24,149) had developed CKD and about 25.7 per cent were taking PPI. Out of the original sample size, 36,290 died. With this information at hand, it can be concluded that use of PPI cannot be only linked to CKD development,, but also mortality.

Tech Times clearly emphasized that this does not prove the cause-and-effect relationship between CKD and PPI but can warn individuals taking the drug. Dr Pradeep Auro, SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Science's associate professor, advised: "It is very reasonable to assume that PPIs themselves can cause chronic kidney disease."

Tagsproton pump inhibitors, chronic kidney disease, proton pump inhibitors cause kidney disease, heart burn drugs