Increased mortality in patients with hematologic malignancies treated with proton pump inhibitors: a nationwide cohort study

Abstract

Proton Pump inhibitors (PPIs) are frequently prescribed to cancer patients to prevent gastric mucosal damage. Post-diagnostic PPI use in patients with solid tumors may be associated with increased cancer mortality. However, the hazardous impact of PPIs in patients with hematologic malignancies remains unknown. This association was investigated in a large, retrospective cohort study using data from the Danish nationwide health registries. The outcomes were cancer-specific or non-cancer deaths. We identified 15,320 patients with hematologic malignancies and of these 1811 were identified as post-diagnostic PPI users. PPI users had significantly increased HRs for cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.31; 95% CI, 1.18–1.44) and 1-year cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.29–1.74) as compared to nonusers. The association between PPI use and increased cancer-specific mortality in Danish patients with hematologic malignancies supports the raised concerns regarding the frequent use of PPIs in cancer patients.

Keywords:

• Hematological malignancies
• proton pump inhibitors
• prognosis

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge and thank The Hematological Research Unit at The University of Southern Denmark for their financial support of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Marja Jäättelä received funding from the European Research Council [AdG340751] and the Danish National Research Foundation [DNRF125].