3.1 Participants’ Demographic and Clinical Characteristics
One hundred and twenty participants completed the study with a response rate of 97.43 %. The characteristics of respondent participants were female (50.8%), only completed their high school (25.0%), married (83.3%), and ever tried reducing (87.5%) or stopping (89.5%) PPI use. A majority reported having a primary care provider (PCP) (90%), using PPI for GERD (71%), using PPIs at least once per day (62%), and taking PPIs for longer than two years (73%). Pantoprazole was the most commonly used PPIs by 90% of the participants. Vitamin D deficiency was the most commonly reported chronic disease that participants did believe it is linked with PPI use. However, vitamin B12 deficiency was the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease among the participants. The gastroenterologist recommended using PPI for the majority of participants (60.8%), with 54.2% seeing the gastroenterologist for GERD. Participants reported significant improvement of symptoms being on PPIs, with 88.4% reporting moderate to full resolution of GERD symptoms.
3.2 Awareness and perception of PPI adverse effects
A majority (95%) were not familiar with any report linking PPI use with side effects. A majority (64.2%) did not believe that PPI use is associated with side effects. Around 53% were not aware of any side effects associated with PPI. Nevertheless, most participants (83.3%) reported no concern related to the chronic side effects of PPI. Most participants (90%) had not discussed the benefits and risks of PPI with their PCP. Although most participants (80%) felt comfortable discussing with their PCP whether to stop or reduce PPIs, A PCP had recommended reducing the dose of PPI for only 9.2%. Ten percent of participants reported a previous trail to stop PPI due to concerns about side effects, and most of them (91.7%) did so without a PCP’s recommendation. A detailed description of participants’ demographic and clinical characteristics is outlined in Table 1.
Please insert Table 1 here
3.3 Willingness to stop PPIs
Sixty-five percent of participants were willing to stop PPIs if recommended by a PCP compared to 55 % if recommended by a gastroenterologist (P< 0.001). When asking about willingness to stop PPIs due to long-term adverse side effects, 64% were willing to do so. However, their willingness to stop significantly increased to 65.9% if a PCP recommended to gradually decrease the dose of PPI or resume talking PPI in the future if needed and 63.4% if a less potent alternative to PPI was prescribed for them (P < 0.001).
3.4 Factors Predicting PPI Duration
Multiple linear regression was calculated to predict the long-term use of PPI among community-dwelling older adults based on their age, PPI indication, being comfortable to stop or reduce PPI, improvement of GERD symptoms, and willingness to stop PPI if the physician recommended that. As seen in Table 2, a significant regression equation was found (p < .0001). Most predictors entered into the regression model were statistically significant, while the beta for willingness to stop PPI is insignificant.
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3.5 Factors Predicting Previous Trails to Stop PPI
Enter binary logistic regression was performed to examine predictors of previous trails to stop PPI. The overall test for the model was statistically significant (chi-square = 24.08, p < 0.001). The model correctly classified 89.2% of the cases. All Betas were positive, indicating when a PCP recommended stopping PPI, and the patients talked about side effects of PPI and had greater familiarity and concern about long-term side effects of PPI, the participants were more likely to try stopping PPIs (Table 3). A PCP recommends stopping PPI (p = 0.049) and having a greater level of concern about the long-term side effects of PPI (p < 0.0001) were the only two statistically significant predictors in the model.
Please insert Table 3 here