Taking PPIs is associated with increased risk of developing gastric cancer regardless of Helicobacter pylori eradication status, according to findings from Korea, a country with a high prevalence of the malignancy.

Researchers examined data in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database on 6877 patients who initiated PPI therapy and the same number of propensity-matched controls who didn’t use PPIs.

During a median follow-up of 4.3 years, 118 patients in the PPI group developed gastric cancer, compared with 40 cases of gastric cancer in the non-PPI group.

Compared with non-PPI users, patients who used PPIs for 30 days or more had more than double the likelihood of developing gastric cancer.