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Evidence summaries

Drug Therapies for Reducing Gastric Acidity in People with Cystic Fibrosis

Drug therapies that reduce gastric acidity might possibly improve fat absorption and gastro-intestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain in people with cystic fibrosis, although the evidence is insufficient. Level of evidence: "D"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 17 studies with a total of 273 subjects; 7 studies were limited to children and 4 studies enrolled only adults.

Meta-analysis was not performed. One study found that drug therapies that reduce gastric acidity improved gastro-intestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain; 7 studies reported significant improvement in measures of fat malabsorption; and 2 studies reported no significant improvement in nutritional status. Only one study reported measures of respiratory function and one study reported an adverse effect with prostaglandin E2 analogue misoprostol. No trials have been identified assessing the effectiveness of these agents in improving quality of life, the complications of increased gastric acidity, or survival.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment and blinding), by inconsistency (heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes), and by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison).

    References

    • Ng SM, Moore HS. Drug therapies for reducing gastric acidity in people with cystic fibrosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016;(8):CD003424. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords