H Pylori, PPI use and gastric cancer
Another article just came out on the relationship between H Pylori infection and gastric cancer, this one in patients who had been successfully treated but are still on PPIs vs H2 receptor antagonsists (see doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2017-314605). Details: --Hong Kong study, based on a territory-wide database, of adults who had received outpatient prescriptions for clarithromycin-based triple antibiotic therapy for H Pylori between 2003-2012. They excluded patients who had failed this regimen (needed repeated antibiotic course), and those diagnosed to have gastric cancer (GC) within 12 months after H Pylori therapy, and those with gastric ulcers. they also excluded those with prescriptions for PPIs or H-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) within 6 months of GC diagnosis to avoid protopathic bias (prescription of one of these meds for an early manifestation of gastric cancer) --PPI users (n=3271) vs non-PPI users (n=60,126):...