Consider If You Will: Proton Pump Inhibitors in Children, Infections, and Precision Medicine.

Abstract

* Abbreviation: PPI — : proton pump inhibitor The discovery in 1975 that timoprazole was highly effective in reducing gastric acid secretion followed by the creation of a derivative, omeprazole, in 1979 marked the introduction of a new class of drugs: the proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Since the entry of omeprazole onto the market in 1988, PPIs have become among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. This is not unique to adults; over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the rate of use of PPIs in children.1 As PPIs have been increasingly used, concerns have surfaced as to their safety and efficacy.2 In this issue of Pediatrics , Bernal et al3 explore an important 1 of these concerns: infection rate. Their study, “CYP2C19 Phenotype and Proton Pump Inhibitor–Associated Infections,” revealed that among a group of 670 children treated with a PPI, the risk for infection was correlated with a normal or wild type metabolizer phenotype, whereas those children … Address correspondence to Michael Rieder, MD, PhD, FAAP, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario, 800 Commissioners Rd E, London, ON N6A 5W9, Canada. E-mail: mrieder{at}uwo.ca