Is over-use of proton pump inhibitors fuelling the current epidemic of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea?

NICE, 2000 Walker, 2001, An evaluation of the use of proton pump inhibitors, Pharm World Sci, 23, 116, 10.1023/A:1011278030001 Forgacs, 2008, Overprescribing proton pump inhibitors, Br Med J, 336, 2, 10.1136/bmj.39406.449456.BE Cunningham, 2003, Proton pump inhibitors as a risk factor for Clostridium difficile diarrhoea, J Hosp Infect, 54, 243, 10.1016/S0195-6701(03)00088-4 Leonard, 2007, Systematic review of the risk of enteric infection in patients taking acid suppression, Am J Gastroenterol, 102, 1, 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01275.x Pépin, 2004, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in a region of Quebec from 1991 to 2003: a changing pattern of disease severity, Can Med Assoc J, 171, 466, 10.1503/cmaj.1041104 Blossom, 2007, The challenges posed by reemerging Clostridium difficile infection, Clin Infect Dis, 45, 222, 10.1086/518874 Kuijper, 2006, Emergence of Clostridium difficile-associated disease in North America and Europe, Clin Microbiol Infect, 12, 2, 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2006.01580.x Office for National Statistics, 2006, Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999–2004, Health Stat Q, 30 Reeves, 2007, The 2005 Garrod lecture: the changing access of patients to antibiotics – for better or worse?, J Antimicrob Chemother, 59, 333, 10.1093/jac/dkl502 Cookson, 2007, Hypervirulent strains of Clostridium difficile, Postgrad Med J, 83, 291, 10.1136/pgmj.2006.056143 Gurian, 1982, Influence of gastrointestinal secretions on Clostridium difficile infection, Gastroenterology, 83, 465, 10.1016/S0016-5085(82)80345-4 Dubberke, 2007, Clostridium difficile associated disease in a setting of endemicity: identification of novel risk factors, Clin Infect Dis, 45, 1543, 10.1086/523582 Dial, 2004, Risk of Clostridium difficile diarrhea among hospital inpatients prescribed proton pump inhibitors: cohort and case-control studies, Can Med Assoc J, 171, 33, 10.1503/cmaj.1040876 Akhtar, 2007, Increasing incidence of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in African-American and Hispanic patients: association with the use of proton pump inhibitor therapy, J Natl Med Assoc, 99, 500 Dial, 2006, Proton pump inhibitor use and risk of community-acquired Clostridium difficile-associated disease defined by prescription for oral vancomycin therapy, Can Med Assoc J, 175, 745, 10.1503/cmaj.060284 Yearsley, 2006, Proton pump inhibitor therapy is a risk factor for Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea, Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 24, 613, 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2006.03015.x Dial, 2005, Use of gastric acid-suppressive agents and the risk of community-acquired Clostridium difficile-associated disease, J Am Med Assoc, 294, 2989, 10.1001/jama.294.23.2989 Jayatilaka, 2007, Clostridium difficile infection in an urban medical center: five-year analysis of infection rates among adult admissions and association with the use of proton pump inhibitors, Ann Clin Lab Sci, 37, 241 Shah, 2000, Gastric acid suppression does not promote Clostridial diarrhoea in the elderly, Q J Med, 93, 175, 10.1093/qjmed/93.3.175 Pepin, 2005, Emergence of fluoroquinolones as the predominant risk factor for C. difficile-associated disease, Clin Infect Dis, 41, 1254, 10.1086/496986 McFarland, 2005, A predominantly clonal multi-institutional outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea with high morbidity and mortality, N Engl J Med, 353, 2442, 10.1056/NEJMoa051639 Husebye, 1992, Fasting hypochlorhydria with gram positive gastric flora is highly prevalent in healthy old people, Gut, 33, 1331, 10.1136/gut.33.10.1331 Cadle, 2007, Association of proton-pump inhibitors with outcomes in Clostridium difficile colitis, Am J Health Syst Pharm, 64, 2359, 10.2146/ajhp060629 Kaur, 2007, Comparative role of antibiotic and proton pump inhibitor in experimental Clostridium difficile infection in mice, Microbiol Immunol, 51, 1209, 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2007.tb04016.x Rao, 2006, In vitro killing of nosocomial pathogens by acid and acidified nitrate, Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 50, 3901, 10.1128/AAC.01506-05 Wilson, 1985, Population dynamics of ingested Clostridium difficile in the gastrointestinal tract of the Syrian hamster, J Infect Dis, 151, 355, 10.1093/infdis/151.2.355 Jump, 2007, Vegetative Clostridium difficile survives in room air on moist surfaces and in gastric contents with reduced acidity: a potential mechanism to explain the association between proton pump inhibitors and C. difficile-associated diarrhea, Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 51, 2883, 10.1128/AAC.01443-06 Buggy, 1983, Comparison of methods for recovery of Clostridium difficile from an environmental surface, J Clin Microbiol, 18, 348, 10.1128/JCM.18.2.348-352.1983 National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2004 Batuwitage, 2007, Inappropriate prescribing of proton pump inhibitors in primary care, Postgrad Med J, 83, 66, 10.1136/pgmj.2006.051151