January 25, 2016 – PPIs Kidneys

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Anchor lead: Can a common antacid compromise kidney function? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Proton pump inhibitors, abbreviated PPIs, are very potent antacid medications, used by millions to combat gastroesophageal reflux disease and other conditions.  Now a study by Morgan Grams and colleagues at Johns Hopkins of two groups of people suggests the medications pose a risk for your kidneys.

Grams: In the ARIC cohort it was about fifty percent more likely to develop chronic kidney disease and in the Geisinger cohort it was about 20% more likely.  People that were taking once daily dosing versus twice daily dosing, people who were taking twice daily dosing were at higher risk for developing chronic kidney disease, so that was another way of sussing out whether this might in fact be causal.  And the reason why this is important is that there are just so many people that are taking proton pump inhibitors.  Right now it’s above 15 million just in the US alone.   :28

Grams also compared the risk with PPIs versus another popular class of these medicines known as H2 blockers, and still found kidney risk among those who used the PPIs.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.