Outcome observability in evidence on proton pump inhibitor-associated clostridioides difficile outcomes: a result-specific methodological audit

Description

Jiawang Zhao and Ping Yin audit how studies of stomach acid drugs and a severe gut infection define what they measure. The drugs are proton pump inhibitors, widely used for reflux, and the infection is Clostridioides difficile, a cause of dangerous diarrhea. Rather than asking whether the drugs raise risk, the pair ask whether each published result could even observe its claimed outcome cleanly. Eleven evidence sources passed their screening.

The sources turned out to target different things: most measured new infections, while others measured detection, severity, or death among the already infected. Effect measures, time windows, and case-finding methods varied widely, and three reviews mixed definitions from their source studies. Two registry reports overlapped and were counted as one cluster. The authors conclude the estimates do not answer one shared question, and they offer their observability profile as a tool for readers of tangled literatures.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13646726