Acid suppressing medication increases infection risk

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A survey shows that gastric acid suppressing therapy is linked with a rise in infectious diarrhea.
Infection with Clostridium difficile (CD), a bacterium that causes diarrhea, is an increasing public health issue. Now researchers at McGill University, Canada, reveal that there is a link with the prescription of gastric acid suppressing medication which is often used to treat ulcers and other stomach complaints.

They took data from the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database and looked at records for 1,672 patients diagnosed with CD infection. Around three quarters had probably acquired the infection in the community rather than in hospital. The rate of CD infection went up from less than one per 100,000 patients in 1994 to 22 per 100,000 in 2004.

During this time, the rate of antibiotic prescription has gone down and that of the gastric acid suppressing medications, including proton pump inhibitors, has gone up. Those on a proton pump inhibitor were found to have three times the risk of CD infection while those on an H-2-receptor antagonist - another gastric acid suppressing medicine - had twice the risk. Given that gastric acid suppressive medications are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the UK and North America, more thought needs to be how they could be contributing to the rise in CD infection.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 21st December 2005 Volume 294 pages 2989-2995

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