Link to study: American Academy of Neurology

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex and race, as well as health-related factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes, researchers found people who had been taking acid reflux drugs for more than 4.4 years had a 33% higher risk of developing dementia than people who never took the drugs.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      1 year ago

      Thank you for that. I take anti heartburn meds due to acid reflux and glad to hear not going get dementia from it.

    • maporita@unilem.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 year ago

      “If acid reflux is not controlled well, it can cause a variety of complications, including cancer at a later stage,” said Desai. So people should not be ditching their heartburn medications en masse based on alarming headlines.

      While that’s true, it’s also apparent that Doctors in the US massively overprescrbe medicines for conditions that are often better addressed through lifestyle changes. Acid reflux is one.

      • Drusas@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Unfortunately, acid reflux can’t always be resolved with lifestyle changes. But it probably can in most cases.

    • clearedtoland@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      The Vox article does a better job of communicating the findings without the hyperbolic headline. The study wasn’t explicitly designed to look for association. Nonetheless, the data is there.

      Neither study does a particularly good job determining causality. The higher quality study was limited in time (3 years) and participant age but perhaps the findings also broadly apply.

  • ForestOrca@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    The papers under discussion:
    Cumulative Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Dementia: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
    https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2023/08/09/WNL.0000000000207747

    Association of Proton Pump Inhibitor Use With Incident Dementia and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study
    https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2823%2900873-9/fulltext

    Safety of Proton Pump Inhibitors Based on a Large, Multi-Year, Randomized Trial of Patients Receiving Rivaroxaban or Aspirin
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31152740/

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Getting old is just so awful. If you don’t get dementia, then you might get cancer based on what someone else posted about what untreated acid reflux can do.

    • BilboBargains@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not much of a choice. The way we approach end of life is not discussed enough. It feels like there has to be something better than a gradual slide into decrepitude or jumping off a bridge.