Common Medication Can Raise Heart Attack Risk Up to 21 Percent, Research Shows

Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To stave off the possibility, you might take medications like Aspirin, which are thought to reduce your chances of experiencing a cardiovascular event. But other medications could raise the risk of a heart attack in some individuals. In fact, research shows that one commonly prescribed medication can increase your risk of having a heart attack by up to 21 percent.

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Proton pump inhibitors can raise heart attack risk by up to 21 percent.

A study published in the journal PLOS One highlighted the link between commonly prescribed antacid drugs and heart attacks.

Researchers from Houston Methodist and Stanford University examined health documents for nearly 3 million patients across the U.S. and determined that patients using proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have a 16 to 21 percent increased risk of heart attack compared to individuals who do not use this medication.

This risk was prevalent in the entire general population, not just older adults or people with a history of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), who are more at risk of having a heart attack, the researchers said.

This study was one of the first to show a clear risk of PPIs for the general population, as previous research had health officials believing that the risk was relegated to a small subset of patients who had coronary artery disease and were also using the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel to prevent future heart attacks.

“Investigators originally assumed this was due to a drug-drug interaction between these compounds, and the FDA went so far as to release a warning about their concomitant use,” study lead author Nicholas Leeper, MD, professor of surgery at the Stanford University Medical Center, explained in a statement. “This led us to use powerful ‘big-data’ approaches to try to determine whether PPIs might in fact be associated with risk in ‘all comers.'”

Similarly, a 2024 study published in the European Heart Journal found that PPI use is associated with an increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the general population.

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The researchers found no increased heart attack risk from another antacid medication.

PPIs are primarily prescribed to those who have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). According to Medline Plus, there are many types of PPIs—some of which are available over-the-counter (OTC), like Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, and Zegerid.

However, alternative medications used to treat GERD may not have the same heart attack risk.

According to the PLOS One study, patients who used H2 blockers (such as Tagamet, Pepcid, and Axid) as an alternative treatment for GERD did not have an increased risk of having a heart attack. Unfortunately, doctors tend to use PPIs as the first line of medication defense in GERD cases.

“Both medications work by blocking and decreasing the production of stomach acid, but PPIs are considered stronger and faster in reducing stomach acids,” the experts at Healthline explained when comparing PPIs and H2 blockers.

RELATED: Doctors Warn This Common Supplement Can Increase Heart Disease Risk.

PPIs have also been linked to dementia and migraines.

Proton pump inhibitors could pose health risks in addition to heart attacks.

A recent study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia found that, among people who were diagnosed with dementia between the ages of 60 and 69, those who used PPIs had a 36 percent higher risk compared to non-users.

A separate study published in Neurology concluded that people who used PPIs for more than 4.4 cumulative years were at a 33 percent higher risk of developing dementia than those who did not use the drugs.

Additionally, a new study published in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice suggests that PPIs users are 70 percent more likely to experience migraines than nonusers.

“Our report raises concerns that these drugs—which are available over the counter and are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world—may not be as safe as we previously assumed,” Leeper concluded.