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Acid Suppression Drugs Increase Pneumonia Risk

The October 27, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that people who take acid suppression drugs are much more likely to develop pneumonia than those who don’t use the drugs.

The findings apply to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as Prevacid and Nexium as well as H2-receptor antagonists such as Zantac and Pepcid.

In those people currently taking the drugs, the incidence rate of pneumonia was 2.45 per 100 persons per year. The rate in those who were not taking the drugs was 0.6 per 100 persons per year.

After taking into account various factors, the researchers estimated the risk of pneumonia was 89% higher for those people taking PPIs and 63% higher for people taking the H2-receptor antagonists.

In a related editorial, Dr. James Gregor of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada reminded doctors that “concerns for patient safety should guide initial prescribing and perhaps more importantly, chronic use of even the most apparently benign drugs.”

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