Normal Method To Eliminate Helicobacter Pylori Bacteria From The Stomach

Issue of the review

To determine whether screening for Helicobacter pylori bacteria in healthy people and the routine treatment of people infected with antibiotics reduces the number of new cases of stomach cancer.

Context

People infected with H. pylori are more likely to develop stomach cancer than uninfected people. For this reason, H. pylori is classified as a carcinogen (which causes cancer) for humans. Every year, many people die of stomach cancer around the world, because by the time the affected people see a doctor, the condition is often advanced. However, H. pylori infection is easily eradicated by one week of antibiotic therapy.

Characteristics of studies

Research in the literature up to December 2013 identified 6 trials (totaling 6,497 participants, including 3 trials with low risk of bias). Five of these studies were conducted in Asia.

Principle results

We found that antibiotics against H. pylori provided a small benefit in preventing stomach cancer (51 (1.6%) of the 3,294 participants who received treatment developed stomach cancer later compared to 76 (2.4%) of the 3,203 participants who received placebo or no treatment), but it is unclear whether antibiotics reduce the number of deaths due to the disease, increase or decrease number of all-cause deaths, or increase or decrease the number of cases of esophageal cancer. Data on treatment side effects were poorly reported.

Quality of evidence

Three trials were low-risk of bias, one at risk inaccurate, and two at high risk. One study had a high risk of bias because no placebo had been used for the active eradication treatment regimen, so this part of the trial was not blinded. The other study was at high risk of bias due to inconsistencies in data logging between the two follow-up points. We could not resolve this discrepancy, despite making contact with the original authors. As a result, we lowered the quality of evidence from high to moderate because of a serious risk of bias.