Prevalencia de la infección por Helicobacter pylori en atención primaria: estudio seroepidemiológico

Abstract

To find the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection in primary care in our area and to study factors associated with this infection. Descriptive and prospective study.Setting. Urban health district with 30 765 people registered. 267 patients, selected by quota sampling from the census of age and sex groups, as a function of an alpha of 0.05, 0.06 accuracy, and expected prevalence of 50%. HP infection was studied through validated IgG serology (ELISA Wampole(R)). The following were studied as associated factors: age, sex, education, profession, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs taken. Mean age was 38.4, and 51.3% were women. Prevalence of HP infection was 52.4% (95% CI, 46.4-58.4). This proportion increased steadily with age, with a minimum of 11.5% in the 0-9 years-old range and a maximum of 87.5% in the 60-69 years-old group. There was more HP in men (56.9%) than in women (48.2%). In univariate analysis a linear tendency was found between HP infection and increased age (P<.0001) and the consumption of alcohol (P=.003), with no relationship to other variables studied. In the multivariate analysis, only age maintained statistical significance (P=.001). In our area the prevalence of HP infection is similar to that in other studies: it increases steadily with age and shows en epidemiological pattern that is half-way between countries of high and low prevalence.