Heartburn Meds Ineffective For Treating Asthma
The surprising results of a recent study indicate that the decades long medical practice of prescribing heartburn medications to patients with asthma is ineffective.
The new study found that the popular heartburn drug Nexium, also known as the purple pill, did not reduce asthma symptoms in patients who were not also suffering from heartburn. An estimated 2.5 to 5 million suffer from a combination of asthma and gastroesophageal reflux, commonly referred to as heartburn.
For at least the last 20 years, it has been standard practice among physicians to prescribe proton pump inhibitors (drugs that decrease the level of stomach acid) to patients with asthma even if they exhibited no symptoms of heartburn. The assumption amongst medical professionals was that acid reflux ““ that is, excess stomach acid rising into the lower part of the throat ““ could trigger asthma attacks, regardless of whether the patient feels like he has heartburn or not.
Nexium, Protonix and Prilosec were some of the most popular medications prescribed to asthma patients, although all three were originally designed to reduce stomach acid and treat stomach ulcers.
The study was conducted across 20 different research facilities and involved over 400 patients, all of the which had asthma that did not responded to typical treatments. The subjects were then randomly assigned to one of two groups; one of which received acid reflux medication twice a day for six months while the other was given a placebo.
Dr. Nicola Hanania of Baylor College of Medicine, one of the institutes that participated, said that he was surprised and disappointed by the result or the research.Â
The study was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine and reported that among all of the patients with poorly controlled asthma, none who were given heartburn medication showed improvement over those given the placebo. Roughly half of the patients had tested positive for acid reflux, but even these patients were not helped by drugs said Dr. Hanania.
RESEARCHERS EAGER TO SHARE FINDINGS WITH MD’s
For both health and financial reasons, doctors at several of the participating institutes issued press statements warning physicians that they should stop prescribing heartburn medication to patients with “silent” acid reflux.
“Each year, people with asthma are spending as much as $10 million dollars on prescription heartburn medication believing it will help control attacks of wheezing, coughing and breathlessness,” said Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. “Now we know with confidence that silent acid reflux does not play a significant role in poor asthma control.” But he cautioned patients suffering from asthma to “talk with your doctor before discontinuing any medication, as each patient’s specific needs will vary.”
A similar study is currently being conducted on children with asthma, Dr. Hanania said. But because children are affected by asthma differently than adults, he does not necessarily expect the same results.
Dr. Koichiro Asano and Dr. Hidekazu Suzuki of the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo are already looking towards future projects in the field of asthma research. They are suggesting that a study be done to examine the effects of surgical reparation of gastroesophageal reflux in patients with asthma. They believe that the recent study with acid reflux medication does not mean that there is no relationship between the two conditions and that further research is need in the field.
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