lesser than the risk of developing bleeding or cancer of another area in the GI [gastrointestinal] tract,” Andrawes said.
For example, he explained, the medications can help suppress stomach acids and guard against esophageal cancer in those with Barrett’s esophagus.
But, “I also try to ensure that if a patient comes in for reflux symptoms, that we try work on lifestyle modification and diet first, rather than initiating PPI therapy,” Andrawes added.
Stomach cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, he noted, and earlier studies have found a link between PPIs and stomach cancer. But the role of H. pylori was less clear.
To try to assess the role the bacteria played, Leung and his colleagues compared the use of PPIs with another class of drugs used to lower stomach acid – histamine H2-receptor antagonists (H2 blockers).
The study followed nearly 63,400 patients treated with a combination of a PPI and two antibiotics to kill H. pylori. The treatment was given over seven days between 2003 and 2012.
The patients were followed for an average of seven years, until the participants either developed stomach cancer, died, or the study ended.
During this time, more than