Letter

Eradicating Helicobacter pylori in non-ulcer dyspepsia may not be cost effective

BMJ 2001; 322 doi: 10.1136/bmj.322.7285.557 (Published 3 March 2001)
Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:557.1

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  1. Giulio Formoso, epidemiologist (g.formoso@ausl.mo.it),
  2. Emilio Maestri, consultant,
  3. Nicola Magrini, head, Unit of Drug Evaluation and Evidence-Based Primary Care,
  4. Maurizio Koch, gastroenterologist,
  5. Lucio Capurso, gastroenterologist,
  6. Alessandro Liberati, professor of biostatistics
  1. Centre for the Evaluation of Effectiveness of Health Care, Viale Muratori 201, 41100 Modena, Italy
  2. Department of Gastroenterology, General Hospital S Filippo Neri, Rome, Italy
  3. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Università 4, 41100 Modena

    EDITOR—Finding that patients with dyspepsia gain modest benefits from eradication of Helicobacter pylori, Moayyedi et al conclude that this intervention “may be cost effective.”1 This conclusion should be taken with quite a bit of healthy scepticism. They say that one patient benefiting out of 15 treated with antibiotics may represent good value for money, depending on decision makers' willingness to pay for relief of dyspepsia. However, the risks associated with the antibiotic treatment are not taken into account in the economic model used.

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