Overview
- Researchers matched 17,232 gastric cancer cases to 172,297 controls using national registries from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden spanning 1994–2020.
- Long-term use was defined as more than one year, with prescriptions in the 12 months before diagnosis excluded to limit reverse causation.
- After adjusting for multiple confounders, no association was found between extended proton pump inhibitor use and gastric adenocarcinoma.
- The analysis also found no increased risk with long-term use of histamine-2 receptor antagonists, another acid-reducing drug class.
- Authors say the findings should reassure patients who need prolonged therapy, while noting this observational study cannot prove causation and that other PPI risks, including C. difficile infection, bone effects, and nutrient or electrolyte malabsorption, remain.