There is mounting medical evidence that the use of Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium results in an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) as well as CKD disease progression and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Further, the latest medical study shows that with greater use over time of heartburn pills in the proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) class of drugs, comes a greater risk of developing these serious side effects.
This medical journal article, “Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Incident CKD and Progression to ESRD”, published April 14, 2016 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), reports on researchers’ analysis of national Veterans Administration databases to investigate this still emerging drug safety issue involving Nexium and other PPIs. From the Abstract for this April 2016 JASN article, we get this brief overview of their findings:
The association between proton pump inhibitors (PPI) use and risk of acute interstitial nephritis has been described. However, whether exposure to PPI associates with incident [chronic kidney disease (CKD)], CKD progression, or [end-stage renal disease (ESRD)] is not known…. Our results suggest that PPI exposure associates with increased risk of incident CKD, CKD progression, and ESRD.
And a few months ago, similar findings — from researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Yale University School of Medicine, and two other institutions — were reported in this “Original Investigation” article, “Proton Pump Inhibitor Use and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease”, which was initially published in January 2016 by the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Now we shift our focus from the long-term, chronic kidney disease (CKD) side effect possibly associated with heartburn and acid reflux drugs such as Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec, to the more immediate, acute renal / kidney injury side effect, of which there is an apparent increased risk.
About a year ago, back in April 2015, this article, “Proton pump inhibitors and the risk of acute kidney injury in older patients: a population-based cohort study”, was published online at the CMAJ Open site.
To be clear, we are not suggesting that anyone stop using proton pump inhibitors based on the findings of these three medical studies regarding drugs like Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec. Rather, people who use these PPIs regularly, whether by prescription or over-the-counter, might want to talk with their doctor about whether they really need to use one of these drugs in view of the possible links with chronic kidney disease and acute renal or kidney injury.
We will continue to monitor the medical literature for further developments regarding the kidney-related side effects of Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, and other heartburn medications (prescription and OTC) in the PPI class of drugs.
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