Statins and risk of peptic ulcer disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background/Objectives: Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders worldwide. Recent epidemiologic studies have suggested the protective effect of statins against the development of PUD although the results were inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted with the aim to summarise all available data. Methods: A literature review was performed using MEDLINE and EMBASE database from inception to December 2017. Cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies that compared the risk of PUD among statins users versus non-users were included. Pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random-effect, generic inverse variance method. Results: A total of 3 studies (1 case-control and 2 retrospective cohort studies) met the eligibility criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. The risk of PUD was numerically lower among statins-users compared with non-users with the pooled OR of 0.89. However, the result did not achieve statistical significance with 95% CI of 0.67-1.18. The between-study statistical heterogeneity was high (I-2 = 80%). Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis found that the risk of PUD was numerically lower among statin users. However, the results did not reach statistical significance. More studies are still required to further characterise this potential protective effect. (C) 2020 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.