Acid Blockers Linked to Pneumonia Risk

[Why Syzygy]

Study Shows Hospital Patients Who Take Acid-Reducing Drugs May Be at Risk for Pneumonia
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

May 26, 2009 -- An estimated 33,000 deaths a year from hospital-acquired pneumonia may result from the practice of routinely prescribing proton pump inhibitors and other acid-suppressing drugs during hospitalization to patients who don't need them.

Use of acid-reducing drugs was associated with a 30% increased risk for developing pneumonia in a newly reported study.

The drugs are typically given to reduce the risk of stress-related ulcers, which can be life threatening. But they are often prescribed to patients with a very low risk for developing the ulcers, says study researcher Shoshana J. Herzig, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard School of Medicine.

Use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) has been associated with a slight increase in community-acquired pneumonia risk in several recent studies. But the new research is the first to explore a possible link in hospitalized patients who don't require a ventilator to breathe and are treated outside intensive care units (ICUs).

The study appears in the May 27 issue of TheJournal of the American Medical Association.

"In our study, the risk to the individual patient was small," Herzig tells WebMD. "But because so many people are hospitalized each year, the number of patients involved is not insignificant." (...)

[MichaelHarris]

1. I don't know about acid blockers

but I'm in my second week with pneumonia and it's like breathing through cottage cheese. I can barely get upstairs to the bedroom without taking a break.

[tabatha]

3. Are you taking Vit D?

[tridim]

2. I'm going all natural as long as I can

It seems like every chemical drug has more side effects than benefits.

[tabatha]

4. ditto

[Petrushka]

5. When I started taking a PPI (doctor's prescription after I'd vomited blood), fluid accumulated in

. . . my feet, ankles, and lower legs until they looked and felt like overstuffed sausages . I found it not only torture to walk but painfully difficult to catch my breath or talk. The problem continued for over three years because I had been advised by a specialist that I'd have to take a daily PPI for the rest of my life because of scar tissue in my stomach left by a massive ulcer.

Eventally, against that specialist's advice, however, I decided to experiment by discontinuing the PPI -- just for two weeks to see what might happen. I had a hunch the PPI was somehow interfering with a diuretic I was taking for congestive heart failure (despite the dosage being increased by my primary-care physician) -- and my hunch was right! So, after two weeks, I began the PPI again; and, again, suffered with the accumulation of fluid and the breathing difficulty, etc. When I told my primary-care physician what I'd done, he suggested I try the experiment one more time -- for six weeks -- just to be sure.

Long story short: If an accumulation of fluid in the lungs is a sign of pneumonia, I'm happy to say that my most recent exam indicates that my lungs remain clear . . . perhaps because I haven't taken that daily PPI for over two years? :shrug:

[hedgehog]

6. This study is of a specific population of presumably bed-bound patients.

Why are these people being prescribed PPI in the first place? If there is a very low risk of developing an ulcer, why run the risk of drug interaction, let alone pneumonia?

[Celebration]

7. maybe they have lost their minds

Or maybe they get perks from the PPI drug companies. Seriously, we would have to be mind readers to figure out why something this stupid is happening. 33,000 deaths per YEAR? That's six times the number of our troops who have been killed in Iraq in the Bush war.

[Why Syzygy]

8. Hospitals are dangerous to your health. nt

[trotsky]

9. That is a ridiculous and irresponsible thing to say. n/t

[Why Syzygy]

10. Thank you nt