Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1189100
Study May Alleviate Concerns About Long-Term PPI Use BY THOMAS CROCKER OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES HAVE LINKED PROTON PUMP INHIBITORS (PPIs) TO A LITANY OF HE ALTH CONDITIONS. A RECENT R ANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL UNDERMINES MANY OF THOSE A SSOCIATIONS, FINDING PPIs TO BE L ARGELY SAFE TO USE FOR AT LE A ST THREE YE ARS. C OMMONLY USED TO treat GERD and other acid-related conditions, PPIs have long been linked with a variety of complications. A 2004 study by Dutch researchers found that individuals who used PPIs had a higher risk of pneumonia. A 2016 study in Germany linked PPIs with a significant increase in dementia risk. In a study published earlier this year, American researchers found PPIs were associated with an uptick in deaths due to cardiovascular disease, chronic renal disease and upper GI cancer. "[T]he concern with observational data is that these results could always be due to residual confounding, and so you can never be sure that the effect is real," says Paul Moayyedi, BSc, MB ChB, PhD, MPH, FRCP, FRCPC, FACG, AGAF, Audrey Campbell Chair of Ulcerative Colitis Research and Assistant Dean of Research at McMaster University in Ontario. "It may just be that patients who are on PPI are sicker than people who are not on PPI, and therefore at risk of pneumonia a nd fracture a nd other things." STRONG EVIDENCE OF SAFETY To o b t a i n m or e d e f i n it i v e a n s w e r s about the sa fety of PPIs, Dr. Moay yedi led the PPI arm of a large, international tria l eva luating 17,598 individua ls with stable atherosclerotic vascular disease. 1 4❱❱❱❱❱ S P E C I A L C L I N I C A L S E C T I O N : G A S T R O E N T E R O L O G Y