IMPORTANCE An increased risk of acute bacterial enteric infections has been reported among patients receiving proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy. The risk of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) of viral origin associated with continuous PPI exposure has been less studied. OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between continuous PPI therapy and AGE occurrence during winter epidemic periods when the circulation of enteric viruses is the highest. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A matched cohort study was performed using a prospectively collected drug dispensing database from a large panel of community pharmacies in continental France. All patients recorded in the database during the 2015 to 2016 winter season, with documented age, sex, and use of an identifiable regular panel pharmacy, were eligible for the study. Each patient exposed to continuous PPI therapy was matched to 3 unexposed patients, according to year of birth, sex, and identifiable regular panel pharmacy. Analyses were performed between January 2017 and December 2018. EXPOSURE Continuous PPI use during the 2015 to 2016 AGE winter epidemic. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The occurrence of at least 1 AGE episode during the 2015 to 2016 AGE winter epidemic was the main outcome. Episodes of AGE were identified using a previously validated algorithm based on drug dispensing data. Relative risks of AGE were estimated using a multivariable log-binomial model adjusted for age, sex, and treatments for chronic conditions. RESULTS There were 233 596 patients receiving PPI therapy (median [interquartile range] age, 71 [62-81] years; 55.8% female) and 626 887 matched patients not receiving PPI therapy (median [interquartile range] age, 70 [61-80] years; 56.3% female) included in the analyses. At least 1 AGE epidemic episode was identified in 3131 patients (1.3%) receiving PPI therapy and in 4327 patients (0.7%) not receiving PPI therapy. The adjusted relative risk of AGE for those receiving PPI therapy was 1.81 (95% CI, 1.72-1.90) for all ages considered, 1.66 (95% CI, 1.54-1.80) among those aged 45 to 64 years, 2.19 (95% CI, 1.98-2.42) among those aged 65 to 74 years, and 1.98 (95% CI, 1.82-2.15) among those aged 75 years and older. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Continuous PPI therapy was associated with an increased risk of developing AGE during periods of highest circulation of enteric viruses. These findings support the hypothesis that PPI use is associated with an increased risk of enteric viral infections.

Background This study compares an algorithm to detect acute gastroenteritis (AG) episodes from drug dispensing data to the validated data reported in a primary care surveillance system in France. Methods We used drug dispensing data collected in a drugstore database and data collected by primary care physicians involved in a French surveillance network, from season 2014/15 to 2016/17. We used an adapted version of an AG discrimination algorithm to identify AG episodes from the drugstore database. We used Pearson’s correlation coefficient to evaluate the agreement between weekly AG signals obtained from the two data sources during winter months, in the overall population, by specific age-groups and by regions. Results Correlations between AG signals for all ages were 0.84 [95%CI 0.69; 0.92] for season 2014/15, 0.87 [95%CI 0.75; 0.93] for season 2015/16 and 0.94 [95%CI 0.88; 0.97] for season 2016/17. The association between AG signals estimated from two data sources varied significantly across age groups in season 2016/17 ( p -value < 0.01), and across regions in all three seasons studied ( p -value < 0.01). Conclusions There is a strong agreement between the dynamic of AG activity estimated from drug dispensing data and from validated primary care surveillance data collected during winter months in the overall population but the agreement is poorer in several age groups and in several regions. Once automated, the reuse of drug dispensing data, already collected for reimbursement purposes, could be a cost-efficient method to monitor AG activity at the national level. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12874-019-0745-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.