Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Patients with Gastrointestinal symptoms using Urea Breath Test in Ilorin, North-central Nigeria

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been linked with some gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms particularly dyspepsia. Urea breath test (UBT) is a simple non-invasive tool for the detection of this infection in humans. We, therefore, studied the prevalence of H. pylori infection among patients who were referred for UBT on account of GI symptoms in a tertiary health center in Nigeria. This was a retrospective study in which the biodata, indications and test results of patients who had UBT done over a period of 7 years (2012-2019) were retrieved from a dedicated register. The data was entered into a spreadsheet, cleaned and analyzed using the statistical software for social sciences (SPSS) version 22. Results were presented using frequency tables and charts. Associations between categorical variables were determined using the chi-square test and the level of significance set at p<0.05. Of the 251 patients with UBT results, 216 (86.1%) were on account of GI symptoms. The ages of the patients ranged from 10 to 77 years with a mean age (SD) of 40.0 (±14.2) years. There were more females 111 (51.4%) and the 31-40 years age group had the largest number of patients 57 (26.4%). Dyspepsia was the most common indication for UBT across the age groups (p=0.001). The frequency of H. pylori infection in our cohort was 64.4%. The highest frequency of the infection was observed among the 31-40 years age group (p=0.072) and among females (73/111; p=0.905). The association between H. pylori infection and the GI symptoms was not statistically significant (p=0.748). The prevalence of H. pylori infection among our study cohort is high. There was no significant association between H. pylori infection and the age group, gender and GI symptoms. The small sample size might be responsible for the lack of significant association.