Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate incidence risk and adverse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 disease among short-term users of acid-suppressants in South Korea.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study, conducted using a nationwide claims database for South Korea, used data from patients with COVID-19 tested between January 1 and May 15, 2020. Patients aged over 18 years and prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPI) or histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H2RA) for more than 7 days were identified. Primary outcome was COVID-19 while secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality, hospitalization with respiratory disease, or intensive respiratory intervention. Large-scale propensity scores were used to match patients, while the Cox proportional hazard model was utilized to evaluate any association between exposure and outcome(s). The risk estimates were calibrated by using 123 negative control outcomes.ResultsWe identified 26,166 PPI users and 62,117 H2RA users. After propensity score matching, compared to H2RA use, PPI use was not significantly associated with lower risk of COVID-19 (calibrated hazard ratio [HR], 0.81 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.30–2.19]); moreover, PPI use was not associated with adverse clinical outcomes in COVID-19, namely, hospitalization with respiratory disease (calibrated HR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.72–1.08]), intensive respiratory interventions (calibrated HR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.46–1.82]), except for all-cause mortality (calibrated HR, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.31–0.95]).ConclusionsIn this study, we found that the PPI user was not associated with risk of COVID-19 compared to H2RA users. There was no significant relationship between severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 and exposure to PPI compared with H2RA, except for all-cause mortality.
Highlights
Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are the mainstay in the management of acid-related gastrointestinal disease, including gastroesophageal reflux disease and peptic ulcer disease, and for the prevention of GI bleeding and stress ulcers [1]
In this study, we found that the PPI user was not associated with risk of COVID-19 compared to histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H2RA) users
There was no significant relationship between severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 and exposure to PPI compared with H2RA, except for all-cause mortality
Summary
Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are the mainstay in the management of acid-related gastrointestinal disease, including gastroesophageal reflux disease and peptic ulcer disease, and for the prevention of GI bleeding and stress ulcers [1]. While their widespread use has resulted in the improvement of acid-related disorders, concerns about potential complications due to PPI use, such as osteoporosis, dementia, malabsorption, gastrointestinal neoplasia, and increased susceptibility to bacterial infection, have been rising [2, 3]. This study aimed to evaluate incidence risk and adverse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 disease among short-term users of acid-suppressants in South Korea
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