Source: Associated Press, 4/15/09
According to a new study publised in the New England Journal of Medicine, heartburn drugs are not effective in reducing asthma symptoms, as had been previously thought.
Due to an apparent link between asthma and acid reflux, a number of medical guidelines have encouraged the use of heartburn drugs to help patients control asthma -regardless of whether they suffer from acid reflux. To further investigate this connection, researchers from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute conducted a study to see if a common heartburn drug, Nexium, helped patients with poorly-controlled asthma reduce symptoms. After studying 412 patients at 19 centers across the study, researchers concluded that patients receiving the drug fared no better that the control group who received dummy pills.
Study leader Dr. Robert Wise, a lung specialist at Johns Hopkins University, said it gives the first solid evidence that "silent" acid reflux doesn't have a role in poor asthma control. The researchers also urged asthma patients who don't experience heartburn to ask their doctor whether they should stop taking acid reflux drugs.
While the study sheds new light into the effectiveness of acid reflux drugs in controlling asthma, researchers noted that this does not meant that there isn't a relationship between asthma and gastroesophageal reflux.