Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Jul 24, 2025; 16(7): 107509
Published online Jul 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i7.107509
Proton pump inhibitors and mortality in patients with cancer: Unraveling the complex link
Ibtehaj Tariq, Qurat Ul Ain Iftikhar, Abdulqadir J Nashwan
Ibtehaj Tariq, Department of Hepatobiliary and Liver and Kidney Transplant, Bahria International Hospital Orchard, Lahore 54780, Punjab, Pakistan
Qurat Ul Ain Iftikhar, Department of Medicine, Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi 44000, Pakistan
Abdulqadir J Nashwan, Department of Nursing, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Co-first authors: Ibtehaj Tariq and Qurat Ul Ain Iftikhar.
Author contributions: Iftikhar QUA wrote the original draft; Tariq I contributed to conceptualization, writing, reviewing, and editing; Nashwan AJ critically reviewed the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Abdulqadir J Nashwan, PhD, Department of Nursing, Hamad Medical Corporation, P.O. Box 3050, Doha 3050, Qatar. anashwan@hamad.qa
Received: March 25, 2025
Revised: April 18, 2025
Accepted: June 5, 2025
Published online: July 24, 2025
Processing time: 119 Days and 15.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The original study by Krishnan et al proposed a link between proton pump inhibitor use and increased all-cause mortality. Our critique highlighted methodological limitations, including residual confounding, indication bias, and a lack of causality assessment. We drew attention to the need for cautious interpretation and advocated for well-designed prospective studies before drawing definitive clinical conclusions.