People who regularly use proton pump inhibitors have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online Monday in the BMJ journal Gut.
In an analysis of health data from more than 204,000 adults without diabetes, regular PPI users were 24% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-users. What’s more, the longer participants used the drugs, the greater their risk, reported Changhua Zhang, Ph.D., Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
The findings suggest that screening for abnormal blood glucose and type 2 diabetes may be a critical aspect of care for regular PPI users, particularly for high-risk populations, Zhang and team wrote. “Physicians should be aware of the potential risk of type 2 diabetes when prescribing PPIs, particularly for long-term treatment,” they concluded.
Proton pump inhibitors have been linked to other health problems as well, such as bone fracture and gastrointestinal infections, according to the researchers.
