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c19early.org COVID-19 treatment researchProton Pump InhibitorsPPIs (more..)
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Summary of COVID-19 proton pump inhibitor studies

Studies   Meta Analysis   Hide extended summaries

179 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 56% fewer cases (p=0.005).
Retrospective 179 elderly patients in France, showing higher risk of COVID-19 cases with acetaminophen use, without statistical significance.

May 2020, Preprints, https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202005.0016/v1, https://c19p.org/blanc2ppi

116,209 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 15% lower hospitalization (p=0.27) and 15% fewer cases (p=0.002).
Retrospective 116,209 pediatric patients showing lower risk of COVID-19 with PPI use. There was no significant difference for hospitalization.

Jun 2024, The J. Pediatrics, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347624002828, https://c19p.org/hirsch2

952 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 25% lower severe cases (p=0.8).
Retrospective 952 COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong, showing no significant difference in severe disease with famotidine use or PPI use.

Apr 2021, Gastroenterology, https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(20)34940-4/fulltext, https://c19p.org/cheungppi

84 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 31% fewer symptomatic cases (p=0.34).
Retrospective 84 elderly nursing home residents in Spain showing no mortality, hospitalization, or ICU admission with early treatment with antihistamines alone or in combination with azithromycin.

Apr 2021, Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094553921000018, https://c19p.org/moranblancoppi

198 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 26% lower mortality (p=0.44) and 8% more symptomatic cases (p=0.54).
Retrospective 1,084 residents from 6 long-term care facilities in Spain showing no signficant difference in cases and mortality with PPI use in unadjusted results.

Oct 2020, PLOS ONE, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0241030, https://c19p.org/masromero

2,496 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 19% lower mortality (p=0.32) and 10% higher hospitalization (p=0.51).
Retrospective 2,594 COVID-19 patients in the United States showing no significant association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and COVID-19 severity, including need for hospitalization or 30-day mortality. There was increasing mortality with increasing PPI use with 14%, 20%, and 27% mortality for low, standard, and high use, without statistical significance.

May 2022, Scientific Reports, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11680-0, https://c19p.org/shupp

1,846 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 13% lower mortality (p=0.31) and 2% higher ventilation (p=0.89).
Retrospective 1,846 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in North America showing no significant association between preadmission proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and mechanical ventilation or mortality. Results do not account for the risk of hospitalization based on PPI use.

Mar 2021, Gastroenterology, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016508520353956, https://c19p.org/elmunzer

58,529 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 7% lower mortality (p=0.12) and 4% higher hospitalization (p=0.32).
Retrospective 433,609 COVID-19 patients in Croatia showing no significant difference in mortality or hospitalization risk with proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) use before COVID-19 diagnosis compared to matched controls with PPI-requiring morbidities but no PPI prescriptions. There was significantly higher hospitalization for users with 1-3 prescriptions which authors do not comment on. The classification of users and possible users may introduce confounding. Users required a PPI prescription, while possible users includes those with ≥3 NSAID prescriptions. Possible users may be OTC PPI users, and may differ significantly in NSAID use. NSAID use per group is not reported, and was not used in adjustments.

Oct 2022, British J. Clinical Pharmacology, https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bcp.15525, https://c19p.org/kodvanj

1,000 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 1% lower ICU admission (p=1) and 9% higher hospitalization (p=0.01).
Retrospective 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New York City showing high rates of acute kidney injury, inpatient dialysis, prolonged intubation times, and length of stay compared to previous cohorts.

May 2020, BMJ, https://www.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmj.m1996, https://c19p.org/argenziano

154 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 11% longer hospitalization (p=0.29), 6% higher hospital discharge (p=0.82), and 37% improved viral clearance (p=0.05).
Retrospective 154 hospitalized moderate COVID-19 patients in China showing no significant difference in viral clearance time or hospital stay duration with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. There was no association between PPI use and viral clearance or hospital stay duration in univariate or multivariate analysis. The same results were obtained after propensity score matching.

Feb 2021, J. Inflammation Research, https://www.dovepress.com/analysis-of-the-effect-of-proton-pump-inhibitors-on-the-course-of-covi-peer-reviewed-article-JIR, https://c19p.org/zhang30

14,958 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 3% lower mortality (p=0.66), 21% higher ventilation (p=0.06), 13% higher ICU admission (p=0.06), and 5% higher hospitalization (p=0.26).
Retrospective 14,958 US veterans who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, showing no significant difference in severe COVID-19 outcomes (mechanical ventilation, death, ICU admission, or hospitalization) with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use compared to non-use in a propensity score weighted analysis.

Oct 2021, Gut, https://gut.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/gutjnl-2021-325701, https://c19p.org/shah8

250,655 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 47% higher severe cases (p=0.32) and 8% fewer cases (p=0.06).
Retrospective 255,355 adults in Israel showing no significant association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and SARS-CoV-2 positivity or COVID-19 severity.

Feb 2022, Frontiers in Pharmacology, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.791074/full, https://c19p.org/shafrir

7,910 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 5% lower mortality (p=0.7), 8% higher ventilation (p=0.73), 5% higher ICU admission (p=0.8), and 22% higher hospitalization (p=0.005).
Retrospective 83,224 SARS-CoV-2 cases and 332,799 controls in Denmark showing increased risk of infection and hospital admission with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use, but no significant association with ICU admission or mortality.

Sep 2021, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1542356521005140, https://c19p.org/israelsen

670 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 81% higher severe cases (p=0.05) and 78% higher mortality (p=0.21).
Retrospective 670 COVID-19 patients in Iran showing significantly higher COVID-19 severity scores and more symptomatic presentation in patients with a history of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Adjusted results are only provided for severity. Several values in Table 4 are likely misreported raising concern for the reliability of the main result.

Mar 2023, Annales Pharmaceutiques Françaises, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003450922001122, https://c19p.org/shokri

36,160 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 44% higher severe cases (p<0.0001).
Retrospective 4,251 severe COVID-19 cases and 36,738 matched controls in Scotland showing increased risk of severe COVID-19 with PPI use and antihistamine H1RA use. Adjusted results are only provided for the patients not in care homes (2,357 cases and 33,803 controls).

Feb 2021, BMC Medicine, https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-01907-8, https://c19p.org/mckeigue

34,936 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 9% more cases (p=0.58).
Retrospective 34,936 hypertensive outpatients in Spain showing no significant difference in COVID-19 cases with PPIs and antihistamine H1RAs.

Jul 2020, The J. Clinical Hypertension, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jch.13948, https://c19p.org/vilacorcoles2

1,620 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 34% higher combined mortality/intubation (p=0.01).
PSM retrospective 1,620 hospitalized patients in the USA, showing higher risk of combined death/intubation with PPI treatment.

May 2020, Gastroenterology, https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(20)34706-5/fulltext, https://c19p.org/freedbergppi

518 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 57% higher hospitalization (p=0.15).
Retrospective 506 outpatients in Oman showing no significant association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and COVID-19 hospitalization in unadjusted results.

Oct 2024, Cureus, https://www.cureus.com/articles/310267-association-between-the-use-of-proton-pump-inhibitors-and-severe-clinical-outcomes-in-covid-19-patients-a-retrospective-observational-study, https://c19p.org/pinto2

proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 17% higher mortality (p=0.69) and 22% more cases (p=0.15).
PSM retrospective 9,469 UK Biobank participants tested for COVID-19, showing no significant association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) or histamine-2 receptor antagonist (H2RA) use and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 mortality. Omeprazole was associated with higher risk of cases in patients with upper gastrointestinal diseases. The results for patients with upper gastrointestinal diseases should be more accurate due to reduced confounding and more accurate ascertainment of current use.

Jan 2021, Gastroenterology, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016508520352094, https://c19p.org/fan4

168 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 240% higher severe cases (p<0.0001).
Retrospective 168 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China showing higher risk of severe cases with acid suppression drugs.

Mar 2020, medRxiv, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.19.20038539, https://c19p.org/yan6

160,923 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 46% higher mortality (p=0.02), 33% higher severe cases (p=0.004), and 8% more cases (p=0.1).
UK Biobank retrospective with 160,923 patients showing increased risks of influenza, pneumonia, COVID-19 severity, and COVID-19 mortality with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use.

Jul 2024, eLife, https://elifesciences.org/articles/94973, https://c19p.org/zeng2

27,746 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 79% higher severe cases (p=0.009) and 10% fewer cases (p=0.11).
PSM retrospective 132,316 patients in South Korea, showing significantly higher risk of severe COVID-19 with PPI use, but no significant difference in cases.

Jul 2020, Gut, https://gut.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-322248, https://c19p.org/lee15

439,154 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 49% higher mortality (p=0.005), 36% higher severe cases (p=0.27), 20% higher hospitalization (p=0.0003), and 9% more cases (p<0.0001).
Retrospective 627,514 patients in Hong Kong showing slightly higher risk of COVID-19 with pre-vaccination proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use in two-dose or three-dose vaccine recipients, and higher risk of hospitalization and severe outcomes only in two-dose recipients.

May 2024, J. Gastroenterology and Hepatology, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgh.16601, https://c19p.org/cheung2

309 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 17% higher mortality (p=0.49), 25% higher ICU admission (p=0.05), 126% higher progression (p=0.14), and 19% shorter hospitalization (p=0.18).
Retrospective 309 hospitalized patients showing higher risk of severe cases (ASA≥3) with PPI use.

Nov 2023, Academic J. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375801185_Effect_of_Preadmission_Proton_Pump_Inhibitor_PPI_on_the_clinical_outcome_of_Covid-19_Hospitalised_Patients_during_the_Pandemic_Academic_Journal_of, https://c19p.org/elkanzi

1,087 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 37% higher combined mortality/ICU admission (p=0.09) and 96% worse results (p=0.0001).
Retrospective 1,087 hospitalized COVID-19 patients showing significantly increased risk of secondary bacterial infections (SBIs) and secondary bacterial sepsis (SBS) sepsis with pre-admission proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Combined ICU admission/mortality was higher but without statistical significance.

Oct 2024, Annals of Medicine, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07853890.2024.2399761, https://c19p.org/bianconi2

834 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 59% higher severe cases (p=0.002).
Retrospective 834 elderly patients in France showing higher risk of severe COVID-19 with PPI use, and increasing risk with increasing dosage.

Apr 2024, Age and Ageing, https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/doi/10.1093/ageing/afae082/7645558, https://c19p.org/gramont

365 patient proton pump inhibitor late treatment study: 204% higher mortality (p=0.02).
Retrospective hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Indonesia showing higher mortality with high dose proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use compared to low dose.

Aug 2022, J. Of The Indonesian Medical Association, https://mki-ojs.idionline.org/jurnal/article/view/802, https://c19p.org/liwang

3,024 patient proton pump inhibitor late treatment study: 600% higher severe cases (p<0.0001).
Retrospective 3,024 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China showing increased risk of the composite outcome of ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, or death with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Intravenous administration was significantly worse than oral. Authors hypothesize that PPIs may lead to worse COVID-19 outcomes by increasing the risk of secondary infections, cardiac damage, renal damage, and liver complications.

Jan 2022, Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17562848221104365, https://c19p.org/yao3

1,357 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 124% higher mortality (p<0.0001).
In Vitro study showing lower pH increased ACE2 expression and viral load on SARS-CoV-2 infection, and retrospective study showing proton pump inhibitor use, which is correlated with low gastric pH-related diseases, was associated with higher mortality.

Aug 2021, Frontiers in Medicine, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.637885/full, https://c19p.org/jimenez2ppi

686 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 127% higher mortality (p=0.001).
Prospective study showing COVID- PPI users had higher salivary ACE2 expression, and retrospective analysis of 694 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, showing higher mortality with PPI use.

May 2021, American J. Gastroenterology, https://journals.lww.com/10.14309/ajg.0000000000001311, https://c19p.org/liu22

3,144 patient proton pump inhibitor late treatment PSM study: 165% higher severe cases (p=0.0001).
Retrospective 4,445 COVID+ patients in China, showing higher risk of combined death/intubation/ICU with famotidine and with PPIs.

Dec 2020, Gut, https://gut.bmj.com/content/70/10/2012.full, https://c19p.org/zhou3ppi

51,973 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 179% more cases (p=0.0001).
Survey of 53,130 individuals with a history of GI symptoms showing increased risk of COVID-19 positivity with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use, especially twice-daily PPI use. There was a dose-response relationship between PPI use and COVID-19 risk. Those taking PPIs twice daily had 3.67 times higher odds of testing positive compared to those not taking PPIs. The authors hypothesize that PPI-induced hypochlorhydria may impair the body's defense against ingested pathogens like SARS-CoV-2.

Aug 2020, American J. Gastroenterology, https://journals.lww.com/10.14309/ajg.0000000000000798, https://c19p.org/almario

874 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis PSM study: 28% higher mortality (p=0.63), 75% higher ventilation (p=0.37), 150% higher ICU admission (p=0.11), and 21% higher progression (p=0.6).
PSM retrospective in South Korea, showing lower risk of COVID-19 cases with H2RA (including famotidine) and PPI use, but no significant difference in severe outcomes (results provided for the combined groups only).

Mar 2023, J. Korean Medical Science, https://jkms.org/DOIx.php?id=10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e99, https://c19p.org/kim11ppi

4,634 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 197% higher mortality (p=0.0004) and 10% worse viral clearance (p=0.02).
Retrospective 4,634 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China, showing higher mortality and slower viral clearance with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Authors hypothesize that PPIs may increase susceptibility to COVID-19 by increasing ACE2 expression.

Feb 2022, J. Global Health, http://jogh.org/documents/2022/jogh-12-05005.pdf, https://c19p.org/wu12

253 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 100% higher mortality (p=0.39), 48% higher ventilation (p=0.54), and 25% higher ICU admission (p=0.64).
Retrospective 254 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Jordan showing higher rates of gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. There were no significant differences for mortality, ventilation, and ICU admission. Authors hypothesize that PPIs may facilitate SARS-CoV-2 survival and invasion in the gastrointestinal tract.

Jun 2024, Annals of Medicine, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07853890.2024.2355581, https://c19p.org/almomani

19,915 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 48% higher mortality (p<0.0001), 119% higher ARDS (p<0.0001), 88% worse results (p<0.0001), and 73% higher need for oxygen therapy (p<0.0001).
Retrospective 19,915 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, showing that use of proton pump inhibitors or H2 receptor antagonists was associated with higher mortality, ARDS, sepsis, and ventilator or oxygen requirement among patients

Dec 2023, Gastro Hep Advances, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277257232200142X, https://c19p.org/patil3

295 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 92% higher mortality (p=0.02) and 80% higher progression (p=0.02).
Retrospective 295 hospitalized COVID-19 patients showing higher mortality and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with pre-hospitalization proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Authors hypothesize that hypochlorhydria caused by PPIs may allow SARS-CoV-2 to more easily infect the gastrointestinal tract.

Nov 2021, European J. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, https://journals.lww.com/10.1097/MEG.0000000000002013, https://c19p.org/ramachandran

113 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 228% higher mortality (p=0.008) and 392% higher ICU admission (p=0.02).
Retrospective 113 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Spain showing higher mortality and ICU admission with PPI use.

Sep 2020, Frontiers in Pharmacology, https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2020.570721/full, https://c19p.org/garciamenaya

152 patient proton pump inhibitor prophylaxis study: 248% higher mortality (p=0.02), 124% higher ARDS (p=0.02), and 86% worse results (p=0.03).
Retrospective 152 hospitalized COVID-19 patients showing increased risk of secondary infections, ARDS, and mortality with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. Authors hypothesize that reduced gastric acid production from PPIs leads to bacterial overgrowth and microaspiration, increasing the risk of secondary lung infections. PPIs may also have immunomodulatory effects.

Jul 2020, J. Internal Medicine, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.13121, https://c19p.org/luxenburger
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