Acid Reflux Drugs May Up Fractures

Dec. 26, 2006 Proton-inspire inhibitors — the popular drugs that take up arms against
stomach acid — strengthen the risk of hip fractures, a U.S. study shows.
The drugs are Aciphex, Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec (called Losec in Europe),
and Protonix. The drugs cut off b separate down the chemical “bail out” needed by stomach
cells to fix acid. They are very powerful for treating GERD
(gastrointestinal reflux affliction).
That makes the acid-fighting drugs remarkably popular. Together they rang up
barely $13 billion in U.S. sales in 2005 — a year in which American doctors
wrote more than 95 million prescriptions for the drugs. Prilosec is now
on tap over the counter.
Now a new study shows that when bewitched long term the drugs may participate in a side
effect: hip fracture. People exceeding age 50 who take the drugs for more than one
year have planned a 44% increased risk of breaking a hip, windfall University of
Pennsylvania researchers Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, and colleagues.
Fetching proton-pump inhibitors at higher doses — and for longer periods –
dramatically increases the jeopardy. Long-term, high-measure use of the drugs ups the
risk of hip fracture by 245%.
“Proton-dilate inhibitor therapy is associated with a significantly higher
imperil of hip fractures, with the highest chance seen among those receiving
tipsy-dose proton-pump-inhibitor remedial programme,” Yang and colleagues conclude.
The findings look in the Dec. 27 issue of The Journal of the American
Medical Joining.
Proton Pump Inhibitors and Calcium
Yang and colleagues analyzed medical records on patients treated in the U.K.
between 1987 and 2003. The ruminate on included 13,556 patients with hip fractures
and 135,386 patients without fractures.
After controlling for all variables — including a diagnosis of GERD — hip
fractures were strongly...

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