Dynamics of the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection from 2015 to 2023

BACKGROUND: The global prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection has decreased from 58.2% (1980–1990) to 43.1% (2011–2022). To develop clinical recommendations for prevention diseases associated with Helicobacter pylori, it is important to assess changes in Helicobacter pylori infection in the world and in the Russian Federation, in particular.

AIM: To assess the dynamics of Helicobacter pylori infection among patients in St. Petersburg, who undergone ¹³С-urease breath test in the period from 2015 to 2023.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: All the patients have been included in the descriptive study to conduct ¹³C-urease breath test. If the Delta Over Baseline was less than 2.5‰, the test was considered negative. The value of this indicator of more than 2.5‰ indicated infection with Helicobacter pylori. The database for subsequent statistical analysis included age, gender, the facts of prior eradicative therapy, test results, including degree of infection.

RESULTS: Helicobacter pylori was detected in 32.7% (16,642; 95% confidence interval 32.3–33.1%) of the patients. Of the 50,884 study participants, 83.6% (42,543; 95% confidence interval 83.3–83.9%) of the patients had not received eradication therapy in the past (primary “naive” patients), 16.4% (8341; 95% confidence interval 16.1–16.7%) had undergone eradication therapy in the past therapy (treated “recurrent” patients). The average infection rate among primary patients was 36.1% (15,358; 95% confidence interval 35.6–36.6%), among recurrent patients — 15.4% (1284; 95% confidence interval 14.6–16.2%). From 2015 to 2017, a decrease in Helicobacter pylori infection was detected in “naive” and “recurrent” patients in all the groups by 14.8 and 21.1%, respectively, and from 2020 to 2023 — by 3.6 and 6.2%, respectively. The majority of both primary and recurrent patients showed a very high (IV) degree of infection — 73.0 and 66.5%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated significant reduction of Helicobacter pylori infection from 2015 to 2017 indicating that information from doctors about the importance of diagnosing and treating Helicobacter pylori infection is a priority task. The new coronavirus infection also had an impact on the incidence of the infection; however, it is still unclear what the negative consequences of the active use of antibacterial agents in patients with COVID-19 are, first of all, potential impact on Helicobacter pylori resistance to key antibacterial drugs.