Heartburn PPI drugs linked to dementia?

[ocgirl15 667]

I was wondering if any of you have seen this health news about Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec being linked to dementia. Link to one news story below but if you goggle if you will get tons of hits from reputable news outlets. So many of us take them long term. I know several people with dementia and don't want to increase my chances of getting it. However I have taken Prevacid for at least 15-20 years already. Have any of you had conversations with for PCPs or surgeons? Anybody stopping PPIs altogether? Maybe going back to the old school of Tagamet, Zantac or Pepcid? Just want to hear others thoughts on the subject.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2016/02/17/heartburn-drugs-tied-to-dementia-risk/?referer=

[OKCPirate 5,323]

Hmm, glad I remembered this thread...http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/353029-concerned-about-memory-loss/

This is interesting. I'm getting concerned about some signs that I'm losing some of my mental acuity, and I've been taking those for years. I'm going to have to tap into my MD network to see what they think.

[animallover1247 249]

Well this morning there was yet another report on PPI's. This report was on "The Today Show" on NBC. It stated using PPI's long term can cause kidney problems and therefore "SHOULD BE AVOIDED." I have been on a PPI for 15 plus years and I don't have any issues with my kidney. Even so I will take the risk because I am not going to be in pain more than I am over chronic heartburn.

[2goldengirl 2,076]

The problem with news media articles like this is they cite one study - and don't provide a link to the actual study. I'm not stopping my PPI yet. And one study does not a conclusion prove - only a suggestion.

And the biggest takeway from grad school statistics: "correlation does not equal causation".

Edited April 15, 2016 by 2goldengirl

[butterfly23 423]

This is a huge study - almost 200,000 people and the results should be taken seriously although I agree results need to be replicated as any generalizable peer-reviewed research should be.

It is hard to link to a journal article as most are in a paid journal, but reputable sites like Medscape have a lot more info on this study than the mainstream media outlets.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/861991

[theantichick 2,204]

Yeah, a few months ago they linked Benadryl and other antihistamines of that generation to dementia. I don't think they know, and with a 24 hour news cycle, stuff hits the news and it's not really news. One study doesn't have enough weight for me to pay attention to it.

[OKCPirate 5,323]

Well this morning there was yet another report on PPI's. This report was on "The Today Show" on NBC. It stated using PPI's long term can cause kidney problems and therefore "SHOULD BE AVOIDED." I have been on a PPI for 15 plus years and I don't have any issues with my kidney. Even so I will take the risk because I am not going to be in pain more than I am over chronic heartburn.

I'm with you GIRD and the resulting scaring is dangerous too. I wasn't suggesting stop taking, I'm just going to reach out to my extended network of people who's names end with MD, and PhD and see if they see anything that looks serious and if so, do they have an alternative.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

@@OKCPirate ... I look forward to hearing what your medico friends have to say.

That study reported in Medscape (thanks for the link, @@butterfly23 ) is based on medical data from 200,000 patients of the US Veterans Administration.

Many VA patients have other diseases and behaviors induced by poor self-care that often contribute to subsequent kidney disease and dementia -- diseases like diabetes, alcoholism, poor nutrition, etc. These initial diseases and the behaviors that lead to them are also the kinds of diseases and conditions that cause GERD and, consequently, prescriptions of antacids -- both H2 blockers and PPI meds.

Oddly, the study authors assumed something I think they should not have assumed:

"As the study authors note, both classes of drugs are generally used for the same indication."

Instead, it's been my own observation that MDs prescribe PPI meds after H2 blockers don't lower GERD symptoms. That means to me PPI meds are prescribed for patients who suffer from GERD that is more severe. Patients with more severe GERD (caused or contributed to by greater degrees of primary diseases like diabetes, poor nutrition, alcoholism) might run a higher risk of secondary diseases like kidney diseases and dementia, due to their primary diseases -- not the antacids prescribed for their GERD.

It's these kinds of correlations that lower my anxiety about the likelihood of PPIs *causing* kidney disease or dementia.

As the lead scientist of the study himself said:

... as Dr Perazella cautioned, neither study proves that the PPIs actually cause adverse renal outcomes. "It must be remembered that these are epidemiologic studies that don't prove causation," he stressed. Indeed, the JAMA Internal Medicine authors themselves note that their study was observational in nature and did not provide evidence of causality.