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Proton pump inhibitors, or P.P.I.s, the commonly used heartburn medicines, may increase the risk for kidney disease.

P.P.I.s are sold under several brand names, including Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec, and previous studies have linked their use to bone fracture, pneumonia and Clostridium difficile infection.

Researchers followed 10,482 people for an average of 13.9 years, comparing those who used P.P.I.s to nonusers and to those who used another type of heartburn medicines called H2 receptor antagonists (brand names Zantac, Tagamet and Pepcid, among others). The study is in JAMA Internal Medicine.

After adjusting for many variables, they found that the use of P.P.I.s was independently associated with a 20 percent to 50 percent higher risk of chronic kidney disease. (The use of H2 receptor antagonists was not independently associated with kidney problems.)

The researchers validated the association in a separate group of 250,000 patients receiving care in a large rural health care system.

“The study doesn’t prove that P.P.I.s cause kidney disease,” said the senior author, Dr. Morgan E. Grams, a kidney specialist at Johns Hopkins, “and we don’t want to cause alarm. P.P.I.s are great medicines, and sometimes lifesaving. But like all medications, there are risks and benefits. One approach for patients who require a long course of P.P.I.s would be to routinely monitor their kidney function.”