A community-based study has linked use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) regularly to the risk of chronic kidney disease. But study researchers said additional researches are required to know if the drugs really lead to kidney disease and how.

The study, which included over 10,000 adult individuals, considered use of PPI and found approximately 20% to 50% risk for developing chronic kidney disease. In a replication cohort, the drug’s use was linked to increased risk for the disease, while taking two dosages a day was associated with a higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease, said Morgan Erika Grams, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University.

“The risk was specific to PPI medications because the use of H2 receptor antagonists, which are prescribed for the same indication as PPIs, was not independently associated with chronic kidney disease”, explained the researchers.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, suggested that PPIs are one of the most widely prescribed drugs. There are many studies suggesting that more than one-fourth of the drug prescriptions in the United States of PPIs are not appropriate indications, as per the researchers.

They also said that since PPIs’ introduction more than 20 years ago, its use has been associated with a number of uncommon adverse events, including acute interstitial nephritis, pneumonia, acute kidney injury and C. difficile infection.

When the medications were first introduced in the US, they were considered as miracle drugs that have no side effects, according to Adam Jacob Schoenfeld of the University of California San Francisco. But many proofs that were collected over the years suggest PPIs’ use is linked to many side effects, including some rare ones, he added. Schoenfeld also noted that there are many drugs that are overrated in the country.