Heartburn Drugs Increase Pneumonia Risk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

CHICAGO – Widely used heartburn and ulcer drugs such as Nexium, Pepcid, and Prilosec can make people more susceptible to pneumonia, probably because they reduce germ-killing stomach acid, Dutch researchers found in a study of more than 300,000 patients.


The highest risks occurred with more powerful acid-fighting drugs called proton pump inhibitors, which are sold in America under such brand names as Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec. Over nearly three years, users of these drugs faced almost double the risk of developing pneumonia compared with former users.


Users of another class of acid-fighting drugs that includes cimetidine and famotidine – sold in America as Tagamet and Pepcid – also faced an elevated risk.


The study was led by researcher Robert Laheij at University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and appears in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.


The acid in normal stomach fluids generally kills harmful bacteria; suppressing it with drugs to treat heartburn and ulcers may make the body more hospitable to such germs, which may then infect the lungs and cause pneumonia, the researchers said.


These heavily promoted medicines are among the most widely prescribed drugs worldwide, with almost $13 billion in sales in 1998 alone, according to a JAMA editorial. Millions of Americans take these drugs, which are heavily advertised in “ask your doctor about …” television commercials.


Older patients and those with asthma and other chronic lung ailments are especially vulnerable to pneumonia. In light of the latest findings, the re searchers said such patients should use these medicines “only when necessary and with the lowest possible dose.”


Among the 364,683 patients whose medical records were studied, 5,551 cases of pneumonia were diagnosed – 185 of them in people taking acid-suppressing drugs.


The researchers said their findings translate to about one case of pneumonia for 226 patients treated with the more potent acid-fighting drugs and one case per 508 patients treated with the other drugs.


Users of the more potent drugs were 89% more likely than former users to develop pneumonia. Patients using the less potent drugs were 63% more likely to develop pneumonia than former users of those drugs.


Nevertheless, the findings are reassuring because the apparent increase in the risk of pneumonia was small, said Dr. James Gregor of the University of Western Ontario.


Moreover, the study does not actually prove that the drugs cause pneumonia, said Dr. Gregor, who wrote the JAMA editorial and was not involved in the research. Regardless of which medication a patient is taking, heartburn, or acid reflux disease, can cause a person to accidentally inhale regurgitated stomach acid, increasing the risk of pneumonia, he said.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use