Effect of telephone follow-up on compliance and Helicobacter pylori eradication in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection

Abstract

To evaluate effect of telephone follow-up combined with written instruction on compliance and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication in patients with H. pylori infection. Methods: A total of 160 H. pylori positive patients were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group (n=80 in each group). All the patients got the guide instruction named "the guidance of clinical medication for H. pylori infection patients" before the treatment. The patients in the experimental group were added individualized follow-up with telephone. The compliance, eradication of H. pylori, adverse events, and satisfaction were compared between the 2 groups. Results: The eradication rate of H. pylori in the perprotocol analysis for the experimental group and control group were 64.4% (47/73) and 56.5%(35/62), respectively (P=0.380), while in the intention-to-treat analysis, the rates were 58.8% (47/80) and 43.8% (35/80, P=0.082), respectively. The compliance rate in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (91.3% vs 77.5%, P<0.05). There was significant difference in patients' satisfaction in good ones (75.3% vs 51.6%) and poor ones (5.5% vs 21.0%) between the 2 groups (P<0.05). There were 11 patients in the experimental group and 36 patients in the control group, who appeared adverse reactions such as nausea, bad breath, abdominal distention, poor appetite, and defecation habit change during the process of eradicating H. pylori, but the occurrence rate in the experimental group was obviously lower than that in the control group (15.1% vs 58.1%, P<0.05). Conclusion: The telephone follow-up cannot increase the H. pylori eradication rate, but it can improve compliance and satisfaction for the patients and relieve adverse effects.