Low-dose lansoprazole provides greater relief of heartburn and epigastric pain than low-dose omeprazole in patients with acid-related dyspepsia

Aim: To compare the relative efficacies of lansoprazole 15 mg o.m. and omep razole 10 mg o,m, in relieving heartburn and epigastric pain in patients wi th acid-related dyspepsia. In addition, the study compared the safety profi les of the two treatments, Methods: This double-blind, parallel group, randomised, multicentre study w as conducted in 52 general practices in the UK, A total of 609 patients was recruited, 562 of whom were eligible for inclusion in the intention-to-tre at analysis. All of the patients had experienced at least mild heartburn or mild epigastric pain persistently on at least 4 of the previous 7 days; pa tients with severe symptoms were excluded. 283 patients received lansoprazo le 15 mg and 279 received omeprazole 10 mg, both for 4 weeks. The main effi cacy measure was relief of symptoms, based on physician assessments. Results: In the intention-to-treat population, a complete relief of overall primary symptoms of dyspepsia was achieved after 2 weeks in 53% of patient s receiving lansoprazole and in 41% of patients receiving omeprazole (P = 0 ,007), After 4 weeks, 59% of the lansoprazole group and 51% of the omeprazo le group had achieved complete symptom relief (P = 0,078). Antacids were ta ken for additional relief of symptoms in fewer patients given lansoprazole compared to the omeprazole group in the third and fourth weeks (P = 0.035) and also significantly fewer antacids were taken by patients in the lansopr azole group compared with patients in the omeprazole group (P = 0.033), The proportion of patients reporting adverse events was similar in both groups . Conclusion: Low-dose lansoprazole is more effective than low-dose omeprazol e in the treatment of patients with mild heartburn or epigastric pain in ge neral practice.