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Gray receives AGS Editor’s Choice Award for dementia research

Congratulations to Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Director Shelly Gray who received the The American Geriatrics Society Editor’s Choice Award for her paper that showed Protein Pump Inhibitors (PPI) are not linked to higher dementia risk.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medicines commonly prescribed to treat acid-related digestive problems, including gastroesophageal reflux disease.  Up to one in five older adults said they used a PPI as of 2011, and recent studies have linked PPIs to greater risk of fractures and kidney disease. Some studies also have linked PPIs to an increased risk for dementia among older adults, though several experts have questioned whether these studies correctly measured the connection.

Research (PDF) published today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society appears to challenge those earlier findings.

University of Washington School of Pharmacy Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Director and Shirley & Herb Bridge Endowed Professor Shelly Gray, along with other researchers at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute, reviewed information from the joint UW-Kaiser Permanente Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, which included 3,484 subjects 65 and older.

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Click here for more information about the Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate or click these links to learn about the UW PharmD program or thePharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program.