Heartburn drugs increase risk of hip fractures

Washington, June 6 (ANI): Even short-term use of popular acid-reducing heartburn drugs could increase the risk of hip fractures, a new study has found.

The study, presented at this year's Digestive Disease Week 2009, suggests that older patients should avoid using proton pump inhibitors drugs to spare their bones from fractures.

Proton pump inhibitors include Prevacid and histamine-2 receptor antagonists, or H2RAs, such as Zantac and Tagamet.

Others include popular brands such as Nexium, Prilosec, Protonix, and Aciphex.

"The increased risk with short-term use of acid-suppressing drugs suggests that even relatively brief periods of use may be associated with increased risk of hip fractures," said study's lead author Dr. Douglas Corley.

For the study, Corley and colleagues analyzed data on nearly 40,000 patients taking acid-reducing drugs, and compared them to more than 130,000 patients not taking the drugs.

They found that people aged fifty to fifty-nine who had been on proton pump inhibitors for more than two years had the biggest increase in fracture risk with taking the drugs. (ANI)