Popular Heartburn Drugs Linked to Heightened COVID-19 Risk

A popular form of heartburn medication may increase a person’s risk of developing COVID-19, according to a new study, lengthening the already long list of risk factors for the virus. In the study, published Tuesday in pre-print form in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, scientists led by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Dr. Brennan Spiegel conducted an online survey involving more than 86,000 people. Among them, more than 53,000 reported abdominal pain or discomfort, acid reflux, heartburn or regurgitation, and answered questions about the medications they took to relieve those symptoms. Of those, more than 3,300 tested positive for COVID-19. When the researchers analyzed the data, they found that respondents who said they used proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medications to treat their heartburn had anywhere from two to nearly four times the risk of testing positive for COVID-19, compared to people not using such medications. PPI drugs, which are available by prescription and over the counter, work by turning off the pumps in cells that release acid into the stomach. They can be taken once or twice a day; people taking PPI medications twice a day had a higher risk of infection compared to those taking them once a day. Spiegel, who is also editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, says the results aren’t necessarily surprising. Previous studies have found that people taking PPI medications can be at higher risk of certain infections, in...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news