Proton Pump Inhibitors and Mortality in Individuals With COVID-19

Proton pump inhibitors and gastrointestinal symptoms among patients with COVID-19 infection

INTRODUCTION

The administration of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) is anticipated to elevate an individual's susceptibility to enteric infections as a result of altering the gut flora. The influence of PPIs on the clinical manifestation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still uncertain. This study aims to investigate the impact of PPI usage on the clinical manifestation of COVID-19, namely its gastrointestinal symptoms.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional cohort study involving COVID-19 patients. Patients were interviewed using a predesigned questionnaire that asked about their demographics, clinical manifestations of COVID-19 infection, and the extent and type of PPIs in use. PPI usage was confirmed by reviewing patients' electronic medical records. The primary outcome was to establish any association between the use of PPI and the symptoms and clinical presentation of COVID-19.

RESULTS

Out of a total of 254 participants, 69 (27.2%) were considered PPI users. Patients who were on PPI medications reported a significantly lower rate of myalgia (27.5% vs 51.9%; p = 0.0006) and heartburn (5.7% vs 15.6%; p = 0.03) but had a significantly higher rate of abdominal pain (27.5% vs 13.5%; p = 0.001) and diarrhoea (28.9% vs 14.5%, p = 0.02) when compared to those who were not using PPIs. Patients on PPIs were also shown to have significantly higher odds of developing diarrhoea (OR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.08 to 3.93, p = 0.02) and abdominal pain (OR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.22 to 3.93, p = 0.03), but a lower risk of developing myalgia (OR 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.9, p = 0.02) when compared to non-PPI users.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that the use of PPIs could impact COVID-19 clinical presentation toward more gastrointestinal manifestations. Further studies investigating the link between other acid suppression medications and COVID-19 manifestations and severity should be carried out.

Proton Pump Inhibitors: Current Use and the Risk of Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 Development and its Related Mortality. Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The ongoing Coronavirus Infectious Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis that has had a magnanimous worldwide impact on all aspects of people's lives. Several observational studies investigated the relationship between Proton Pump Inhibitors use and the risk of COVID-19 development and mortality.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this meta-analysis is to investigate the association between current PPIs use and the development of COVID-19 as well as its mortality.

METHODS

Pubmed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and medRxiv were searched until November 21, 2020 using the following keywords: proton pump inhibitors and COVID-19 as well as their related MESH terms. The studies considered in the meta-analysis were either cohort or case-control in design and adjusted for confounding factors. The quality of the studies included in this meta-analysis was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. In addition, a random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled Odds Ratio (ORs) and the corresponding confidence interval (95% CI). Heterogeneity was evaluated using The Cochran's Q heterogeneity test and I2 statistic.

RESULTS

Six observational studies with 195,230 participants were included. In this meta-analysis, current use of PPIs increased risk of COVID-19 development (OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 0.62-2.28) and mortality (OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.41-1.97).

CONCLUSIONS

Our meta-analysis indicates that current PPIs use significantly increased the risk of COVID-19 mortality, but it did not reach a significant threshold in regards to the risk of COVID-19 development.

Paradoxical relationship between proton pump inhibitors and COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), used to reduce gastric acid secretion, represent one of the most widely used pharmaceutical classes in the world. Their consumption as a risk factor for the evolution of severe forms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been investigated as well as the mortality of these patients. These risks also appear to be linked to the duration and the dosage. On the other hand, several studies have emerged with regard to the protective or therapeutic effects of these drugs. More and more evidence underlines the immunomodulatory and anti-fibrotic role of PPIs. In addition, their ability to alkalize the contents of endosomes and lysosomes serves as an obstacle to the entry of the virus into the host cells.

AIM

To identify studies on the relationship between the intake of PPIs and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the main objective of evaluating the outcomes related to severity and mortality.

METHODS

A literature review was performed in November 2020. The MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases were searched for all relevant articles published in English on this topic. The search terms were identified by means of controlled vocabularies, such as the National Library of Medicine's MESH (Medical Subject Headings) and keywords. The MESH terms and keywords used were as follows: "COVID-19", "proton pump inhibitors", "PPIs", "SARS-CoV-2", "outcomes", "severity" and "mortality". The inclusion criteria regarding the studies considered in our analysis were: meta-analysis, case-control, hospital-based case-control, population-based case-control, retrospective studies, online survey, as well as cohort-studies, while articles not published as full reports, such as conference abstracts, case reports and editorials were excluded. We tried to summarize and pool all the data if available.

RESULTS

A total of 9 studies were found that described the use of PPIs, of which only 5 clearly reported the severity and mortality data in SARS-CoV-2 patients. Our pooled incidence analysis of severe events did not differ between patients with and without PPIs (odds ratio 1.65, 95% confidence interval: 0.62-4.35) (P = 0.314), or for mortality (odds ratio 1.77, 95% confidence interval: 0.62-5.03) (P = 0.286).

CONCLUSION

Detailed and larger case studies are needed to accurately understand the role of PPIs in this viral infection.

Analysis of the Effect of Proton-Pump Inhibitors on the Course of COVID-19

OBJECTIVE

This study is to evaluate the effect of proton-pump inhibitors on the course of COVID-19.

METHODS

Clinical data of moderate COVID-19 patients admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center for treatment from January 20, 2020, to March 16, 2020, were collected. A retrospective study was conducted and the patients were divided into two groups according to whether they used proton-pump inhibitors or not. The differences in SARS-CoV-2 clearance and hospital stay between the two groups were compared by Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression models and the propensity score matching method.

RESULTS

A total of 154 patients with moderate COVID-19 were included in this study, including 80 males (51.9%), 35 patients (22.7%) in the proton-pump inhibitor group, and 119 patients (77.3%) in the control group. In the proton-pump inhibitor group and the control group, the duration of the SARS-CoV-2 clearance was 7 days (95% CI, 6-9) and 7 days (95% CI, 6-11), and the duration of the hospital stay was 21 days (95% CI, 16-25) and 20 days (95% CI, 15-26), respectively. There was no significant difference between the both groups in the cumulative incidence of the SARS-CoV-2 clearance and the discharge, and the same results were obtained after the propensity score matching, all P > 0.05. There was no significant association between the use of proton-pump inhibitors and the duration of SARS-CoV-2 clearance, according to univariate analysis (HR, 1.309; 95% CI, 0.893-1.918) and multivariate analysis (HR, 1.575; 95% CI, 0.993-2.499). There was no significant association between the use of proton-pump inhibitors and the duration of hospital stay for COVID-19, according to univariate analysis (HR, 1.044; 95% CI, 0.714-1.528) and multivariate analysis (HR, 1.064; 95% CI, 0.651-1.740).

CONCLUSION

The use of proton-pump inhibitors has no effect on prolonging or shortening the course of adults hospitalized with COVID-19.