Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Heartburn Meds Ineffective for Some Asthma Patients
Uncategorized

Heartburn Meds Ineffective for Some Asthma Patients

By medwebApr 10, 2009
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

Heartburn Meds Ineffective for Some Asthma Patients

Dr. Lewis Smith

For nearly 20 years, doctors believed severe asthma symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, and breathlessness were triggered, in part, by acid reflux. Asthma sufferers were often prescribed heartburn medication in an effort to help their asthma symptoms.

A new national study, led in Illinois by a researcher from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has found that the longstanding practice of prescribing heartburn medication is ineffective and unnecessarily expensive for asthma patients who don’t exhibit symptoms associated with acid reflux such as heartburn or stomach pain.

“Now we know that we should not be using these medications for the treatment of asthma if the patient does not have reflux symptoms,” said Lewis Smith, MD, a professor of medicine at the Feinberg School and principal investigator of the Illinois Consortium for the American Lung Association’s Asthma Clinical Research Centers. Dr. Smith also is associate vice president for research at Northwestern University.

Asthma sufferers spend as much as $10 million on prescription heartburn medication because they believe it will help control attacks of wheezing, coughing, and breathlessness. About 23 million people in the U.S. have asthma. An estimated 12 million people with asthma have an “attack” each year, and 2 million visit the emergency room.

The results of this study, which will be published April 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine, are considered to be the most comprehensive evaluation to date of the efficacy of prescription heartburn medication to control respiratory flare-ups in asthmatics whose symptoms have not been well controlled by other therapies.

Dr. Smith said the medication has been prescribed to asthma sufferers because “when you have a patient who is not doing well, you are always looking for ways that make sense to try to make them better. We should be trying these medications, but if the patient doesn’t get any better, we should stop the medications.”

~Marla Paul

Full story

Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Lurie Cancer Center Receives Merit Extension from NCI

Oct 20, 2021

Drug Combination May Reduce Risk of Leukemia Relapse

Mar 26, 2020

Rewriting the Role of a Transcription Factor

Mar 19, 2020

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Workshop Teaches Medical Students Diagnosis Skills in Dermatology

Feb 7, 2023

Genetic Variations Influence Drug Metabolism in Patients of African Descent

Feb 7, 2023

Potential Therapeutic Target for Schizophrenia Identified 

Feb 6, 2023

Longtime Alcohol Consumption Speeds Up Biological Aging 

Feb 3, 2023

Grant Provides Imaging Technology to Department of Ophthalmology

Feb 2, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-24
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-16
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-14
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-5
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-6
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-10
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-8
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-18
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-23
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-25
Feinberg_In_Vivo_20221209_tcrawford-26

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.