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One type of popular medication for heartburn can increase the risk of premature death for the millions of people around the world who take it, according to a study released last week.
Out of 1,000 people, there were 45.2 additional deaths among those who took proton pump inhibitors like Nexium, Prilosec, omeprazole and prevacid, compared to those who did not. did not take
The new study, conducted by scientists at the University of Washington in St. Louis, follows the group's two-year-old study, establishing for the first time a general link between popular drugs and early deaths.
The team has now discovered that proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) expose people to an earlier risk of death from heart disease, kidney failure or cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract.
Popular proton pump inhibitors such as Zegerid, Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid (clockwise) can be purchased over the counter to treat heartburn – but can increase the risk of heartburn. risk of premature death
More PPIs are prescribed in the world than any other class of drug.
They limit the production of acid by the stomach in order to treat heartburn.
Since their invention in the 1980s, drugs have gained such popularity that they are now considered harmless, warns Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, epidemiologist and head of research, that the hospital affiliated with the elders University fighters are affiliated with the university.
"The misperception is that it's a class of drugs safe," he says.
Dr. Al-Aly says people think, "I can have it without a prescription," which creates the misperception that it's safe, but it's associated with serious adverse events and losses of human lives. "
They can fight against heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux and ulcers, but these drugs have also been associated with digestive hormone imbalances, higher risk of fractures, pneumonia, dementia, lupus and renal dysfunction.
And many of the 214,467 veterans involved in the new study did not even have a documented medical need for PPIs, Dr. Al-Aly observed anecdotally.
The researchers followed the health of the study participants for a decade.
Out of 1,000 people under IPP, 387 died during this period.
Fewer than – 342 – out of 1,000 who were not on the drugs died.
That's a small difference in this relatively small number, but among the millions of people in the world who take PPIs, it means that thousands of people could die sooner than they would have. otherwise done.
"It puzzles me," he says.
It seems that "people are calling their primary care physician and say that they have a stomach burn or indigestion and that a lot of primary care doctors think these drugs are safe, so they say: "Okay, let me try you with a PPI".
"They do not receive any evaluation or documented indication, but they are on an IPP and they use it again and again and again."
And, according to his research and that of his team, although 80% of patients started PPIs at a dose equivalent to what can be sold over-the-counter, this was still enough for "risk to manifest itself".
And they do too much, willy-nilly, or take it for months, even years.
Dr. Al-Aly also met many patients who had been prescribed PPIs at the time of their hospitalization, in order to prevent ulcers from being hospitalized.
It is still unclear what drugs that increase the risk of death, especially those with heart and kidney disease or stomach cancer, are doing.
There is no particular physical sign that a patient can take this medication unnecessarily, except perhaps when he stops taking it and shows no symptoms of GERD or burns. # 39; s stomach.
But given the findings of the new study, as well as the previous one, Dr. Al-Aly recommends caution and vigilance. "
"All patients and doctors need to look closely at the use of PPIs," he says.
& # 39; Your life is at stake. & # 39;
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