Helicobacter pylori-Positive Functional Dyspepsia in Elderly Patients Comparison of Two Treatments

The association of Helicobacter pylori andfunctional dyspepsia is not well defined. The role of H.pylori on dyspeptic symptoms is still controversial. Theaim of this study is to confirm the efficacy of H. pylori eradication by two differentcommonly used treatment regimens, as well as to examinethe improvement of the dyspeptic symptoms by eradicatingH. pylori. H. pylori functional dyspepsia is prevalent in people over 60 years old. In this age groupwe treated 126 patients with bismuth plus metronidazoleand amoxicillin (group A, 67 patients) versus omeprazoleplus amoxicillin (group B, 59 patients). Results were statistically analyzed utilizing theWilcoxon signed-rank test, McNemer test and chi-squaretest; P < 0.05 was considered significant. Two monthsafter the end of therapy we observed an eradication rate of 66.1% in group A vs 64.3% in group B.All treated patients showed improvement insymptomatology. Although there was no significantdifference between patients in whom H. pylori was or wasnot eradicated within the respective groups, when examiningall H. pylori-positive patients versus H.pylori-negative posttreatment patients, there was asignificant reduction (P < 0.05) in all four symptomsof functional dyspepsia measured. In conclusion, we suggestthat patients treated with H. pylori-eradicatingtherapeutic regimens have an improvement in functionaldyspepsia symptoms. We shall prefer the dual therapy as compared to the triple therapy. We believethat eradicating treatment to eradicate H. pylori in theelderly patients with H. pylori -related functionaldyspepsia will reduce health care costs by reducing the number of subsequent visits.