(HealthDay)—For patients with dementia, proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use is associated with increased risk of pneumonia, according to a study published online March 21 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Sai-Wai Ho, M.D., from the Chung Shan Medical University in Taichung, China, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 786 patients with dementia with new PPI usage and 786 matched patients with dementia without PPI usage.
The researchers found that patients with PPI usage had higher incidence of pneumonia (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.89). Independent risk factors for pneumonia included age, male gender, underlying cerebrovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and antipsychotic use (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.05, 1.57, 1.30, 1.39, 1.54, 1.54, and 1.29, respectively). Pneumonia risk was decreased with usage of cholinesterase inhibitors and histamine receptor-2 antagonists.
“PPI usage in dementia patients is associated with an 89 percent increased risk of pneumonia,” the authors write.