Dyspeptic symptoms may improve after eradication of Helicobacter pylori

Dyspeptic symptoms may improve after eradication of Helicobacter pylori

Jaakkimainen et al (p 1040) systematically reviewed studies assessing the association between Helicobacter pylori infectionand non-ulcer dyspepsia, and the effect of eradicating H pylorion dyspeptic symptoms. Among patients referred to specialty clinicsH pylori infection was associated with non-ulcer dyspepsia (summaryodds ratio 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 1.8; 23 studies).For patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia in whom H pylori was eradicatedthe summary odds ratio for improvement in dyspeptic symptoms was1.9 (1.3 to 2.6; 5 studies). These results are not generalisableto the population of patients with dyspeptic symptoms but ratherrepresent summary estimates for the distribution of odds ratioin published studies. They may be used for sample size calculationsin futurestudies.