RESUMO
INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a life-threatening infection in patients with cirrhosis. However, it is unknown whether patients with SBP and cirrhosis who do not have active gastrointestinal bleeding have a poorer prognosis if treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database to identify 858 patients with SBP and cirrhosis who were administered PPIs and hospitalized between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013. One-to-two propensity score matching was performed to select a comparison group based on age, gender, and comorbidities. All patients obtained follow-up for 1 year. RESULTS: The overall 30-day, 90-day, and 1-year mortality was 27.9%, 49.0%, and 73.7%, respectively, in the PPI group and 25.6%, 43.8%, and 67.2%, respectively, in the non-PPI group. After adjusting the Cox regression model for age, gender, and comorbidities, the hazard ratios for PPIs regarding 30-day, 30- to 90-day, and 90-day to 1-year mortality were 1.074 (95% CI 0.917-1.257, P = 0.377), 1.390 (95% CI 1.154-1.673, P = 0.001), and 1.297 (95% CI 1.099- 1.531, P = 0.002), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PPIs did not increase the short-term mortality of patients with SBP and cirrosis who did not have active gastrointestinal bleeding, but PPIs increased the long-term mortality risk. For these patients, physicians should discontinue PPIs as early as possible.