Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors and its impact on glucose homeostasis: results of a prospective observational study

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) being the commonly used medications in various gastrointestinal diseases, and were so far considered as most tolerated and safe medications with few, mild adverse effects associated with their use, but of late there have some concerns emerged on their long-term use and the one important observation is their impact on glucose homeostasis. Aim of the study was to measure the dysglycemic potential of proton pump inhibitors by estimating blood sugar and HbA1c at baseline, 6 months and 1 year follow up in patients put on long-term PPIs. Methods: 150 patients of both the sexes, aged ≥18 years and diagnosed as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), functional dyspepsia or ulcer dyspepsia were included in the study. Patients excluded from the study were those who didn’t consent for their inclusion, known cases of diabetes, any liver or renal disease, pregnant ladies and the ones who were on medications like NSAIDs, steroids or any other hormone. Results: Mean age of the studied subjects being 41.5±14.6 years with the male: female ratio of 1.1:1. The mean body mass index (BMI) of the patients was 24.5±2.7 kg/m2. Prevalence of hypertension and hypothyroidism and hypercholesterolemia among the participants was 36%, 34.7% and 36.7% respectively and 18% participants had family history of diabetes. Conclusions: The conclusions that can be drawn from the presents study are that in patients undergoing long-term more than 12 weeks treatment with PPI, there is a significant increase in overall blood glucose parameters, as measured by fasting blood glucose, random blood glucose, and glycosylated haemoglobin.