PPI drugs, such as Nexium, may come with a risk of Nexium stomach cancer. Academic studies have already drawn a connection between Nexium and stomach cancer after people have developed this serious disease following the use of PPI drugs.

Nexium stomach cancer may require advanced treatment options to address the cancer and can lead to significant pain and side effects for those patients who are simply trying to treat their acid reflux to begin with.

PPIs are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world, but recent studies indicate that Nexium stomach cancer may be a serious concern for consumers. Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer around the world and is the third leading cause of cancer death.

Cancer Risk

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that is usually found in humans. Typically, these bacteria do not cause illness; they are found in two thirds of the world’s population. H. pylori, however, has also been known to cause the majority of stomach ulcers and are clear risk factors for gastric cancer.

The link between Nexium and stomach cancer is particularly troubling for consumers who have used PPI drugs for many years. All PPIs are typically classified as safe. They are taken so broadly that a great deal of research has been dedicated to this field.

The journal Gut recently published a study from researchers at the Department of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong in China. The researchers were particularly concerned about any indicators of Nexium stomach cancer.

Although eradication of H. pylori can dramatically decrease the chance of developing stomach cancer, many individuals still go on to develop Nexium stomach cancer.

Implications of Long Term PPI Use

Long term PPI use has already been implicated in a range of conditions, including pneumonia, bone fracture, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

The Chinese research team focused on PPI drugs because a meta-analysis and recent review indicated consumers ties with long term use of PPIs and Nexium stomach cancer. Over 63,000 adult individuals were involved in the study and each person’s experience was followed until the study ended, until the person passed away or until they became diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Any medication includes risks for side effects and other medical conditions, but when those may ultimately compound over time and present serious dangers of conditions like stomach cancer, patients might think twice before using a drug to begin with. If the medical community and the public are not aware of the dangers, however, more people might continue to use popular medications for a long period of time until it’s too late.

Further research will likely explore the connection between Nexium and stomach cancer to determine who might be affected.

These conclusions in the Nexium stomach cancer study took around seven and a half years to formulate. Those people who took PPIs regularly had more than four times the risk for stomach cancer than those who took them weekly. The risk of stomach cancer was also much higher for those patients who have used Nexium them for a longer period of time.