Introduction

Acute polyarthralgia has been reported in five patients in association with the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole.1 These patients did not have rheumatoid arthritis, concurrent infections, or connective tissue disorders, and their symptoms resolved after stopping omeprazole.1 We compared the relative risk of developing acute idiopathic polyarthralgia during and after exposure to omeprazole, ranitidine, or cimetidine, antiulcer drugs used for similar indications.

Subjects, methods, and results

We conducted a nested case-control analysis using data from a UK general practitioner research database which provides the demographics, medical conditions, and drug prescriptions of over four million people.2 3 4

Cohort members comprised people aged 20–60 who had received at least one prescription for omeprazole, ranitidine, or cimetidine between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1994 …