PPIs May Raise Depression Risk

The use of certain proton pump inhibitors (PPI) may be associated with an increased risk of major depressive disorder (MDD), according to recent study findings.

For their study, the researchers evaluated 2366 PPI-exposed patients who developed subsequent MDD, as well as 9464 controls without MDD.
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Findings revealed that patients with MDD had been treated with a higher cumulative daily dose of PPIs compared with those without MDD. In this cohort, a cumulative daily dose of PPIs of more than 365 was significantly associated with the risk for MDD (odds ratio [OR] 2.08).

These findings were further confirmed in a sensitivity test, the results of which demonstrated an association between higher cumulative daily dose of PPIs and the risk of subsequent major depression (OR 2.14).

The increased risk of MDD was observed specifically among individuals using pantoprazole (OR 1.49), lansoprazole (OR 1.26), and rabeprazole (OR 1.31). However, in patients using omeprazole (OR 1.11) and esomeprazole (1.13), only a trend significance was observed.

“To our knowledge, this was the first study to investigate the association between PPI exposure and the risk of major depression,” the researchers wrote. “PPI-related GBA dysregulation may contribute to the development of [MDD].”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Huang WS, Bai YM, Hsu JW, et al. Use of proton pump inhibitors and risk of major depressive disorder: a nationwide population-based study. Psychother Psychosom. 2018;87:62-64. https://doi.org/10.1159/000485190.