title: Association between proton pump inhibitor therapy and clostridium difficile infection: a contemporary systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) acid-suppression therapy is associated with an increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from 1990 to January 2012 for analytical studies that reported an adjusted effect estimate of the association between PPI use and CDI. We performed random-effect meta-analyses. We used the GRADE framework to interpret the findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 47 eligible citations (37 case-control and 14 cohort studies) with corresponding 51 effect estimates. The pooled OR was 1.65, 95% CI (1.47, 1.85), I(2) = 89.9%, with evidence of publication bias suggested by a contour funnel plot. A novel regression based method was used to adjust for publication bias and resulted in an adjusted pooled OR of 1.51 (95% CI, 1.26-1.83). In a speculative analysis that assumes that this association is based on causality, and based on published baseline CDI incidence, the risk of CDI would be very low in the general population taking PPIs with an estimated NNH of 3925 at 1 year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this rigorously conducted systemic review and meta-analysis, we found very low quality evidence (GRADE class) for an association between PPI use and CDI that does not support a cause-effect relationship.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. tleyjeh.imad@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Imad M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tleyjeh
authors.forename: Aref A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bin Abdulhak
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riaz
authors.forename: Faisal A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Alasmari
authors.forename: Musa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Garbati
authors.forename: Mushabab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: AlGhamdi
authors.forename: Abdur Rahman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Mohamad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Tannir
authors.forename: Patricia J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Erwin
authors.forename: Talal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Abed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allehibi
authors.forename: Larry M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Baddour
authors.forename: Alex J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D054328:Proton Pump Inhibitors