Proton Pump Inhibitors Did Not Increase Risk of Pneumonia in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) involves the airways and pneumonia is a major cause of mortality. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were found to have a positive association with pneumonia. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of PPIs on the risk of pneumonia in patients with COPD. METHODS: This was a nationwide, population-based, case-control study using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The enrolled cases were defined as patients with COPD and appearance of pneumonia between 2001 and 2005. The control group was age- and sex-matched 1:2 with the cases without pneumonia. Potential confounders such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and prescriptions of glucocorticoids over 2 weeks, were included in the analysis. Prescriptions for PPIs were identified and entered into the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 10,131 COPD patients, including 3,377 cases with pneumonia and 6,754 without, were identified. There were 213 (5.3%) and 436 (6.5%) cases with concurrent PPIs in the two groups, respectively, and the risk of pneumonia was similar (aOR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.83 - 1.10). Further subgroup analysis found no differences for younger patients (younger than 70 years old; aOR = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.83 - 1.10), elderly patients (older than 70 years old; aOR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.81 - 1.15), short-term use of PPIs (less than 30 days; aOR = 1.12; CI: 0.53 - 2.34), medium-term use of PPIs (30 - 90 days; aOR = 0.86; CI: 0.72 - 1.03), or long-term use of PPIs (longer than 90 days; aOR = 0.97; CI: 0.81 - 1.15). CONCLUSION: PPIs did not contribute to a greater occurrence of pneumonia in COPD patients compared with non-users in this population-based case-control study. Further research is required.