Do proton pump inhibitors influence SARS-CoV-2 related outcomes? A meta-analysis

Correspondence to Dr Guo Yu, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; guoyu@yzu.edu.cn The article by Lee et al 1 showed that the current use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) increased the risk of severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 rather than the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in a Korean nationwide cohort. Analysis of five studies1–5 encompassing 145 428 patients who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 showed that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection was higher, although not significantly, among current PPI users (OR 1.33, 95% CI 0.86 to 2.07, p=0.20; figure 1) compared with PPI non-users, with evidence of substantial between-study heterogeneity (I 2=97%). [...]in a subgroup analysis of non-Korean cohorts,2–4 we found a significant association between current use of PPIs and increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.59 to 2.36, p