PPI use doesn't up recurrence of bacterial peritonitis

(HealthDay)—For patients with cirrhosis with previous spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use is not associated with SBP recurrence, according to a study published online Nov. 7 in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Jung Hee Kim, from the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study to examine the impact of PPI use on incidence of recurrent SBP in a population of patients with cirrhosis with a previous SBP. The risk of second SBP was compared for the PPI and non-PPI groups before and after propensity score matching.

The researchers found that a second SBP occurred in 29.3 percent of PPI users during a mean of 52.1 ± 5.2 months and in 24.1 percent of nonusers during a mean of 61.9 ± 4.8 months (P = 0.185). Second SBP similarly occurred in both groups in the matched cohort (29.3 versus 26.8 percent; P = 0.271). The only significant risk factor for second SBP was Child-Pugh score in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 1.68). In the matched cohort, isolated bacteria and clinical outcomes such as mortality, presence of sepsis, and hospital stay did not differ between the groups.

"PPI use is not a risk factor for recurrent SBP in cirrhotic patients," the authors write.