Does Long-Term Proton Pump Inhibitor Use Increase Risk of Dementia? Not Really! Results of the Group-Based Trajectory Analysis

Conflicting data of the potential association between proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and risk of dementia have been reported. This study aimed to examine the subsequent risk of incident dementia in older adults by categorizing subjects into different trajectories of longitudinal PPI use. A group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify distinct groups with regard to longitudinal PPI use over 3 years and to further examine the association between the trajectories of PPI use and dementia in a 5-year follow-up. Among 10,533 older adults who initiated PPIs, three distinct trajectories of longitudinal PPI use were identified: short-term (n = 7,406, 70.3%), intermittent (n = 1,528, 14.5%), and long-term users (n = 1,599, 15.2%). Long-term (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.99 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.93-1.17)) and intermittent PPI users (HR = 0.91 (95% CI, 0.76-1.09)) were not associated with an increased risk of incident dementia compared with short-term users. Regardless of pattern of use, PPIs did not appear to significantly increase the risk of dementia over a mean follow-up period of 4 years.