Comparison of Helicobacter pylori Prevalence in Symptomatic Patients in Northeastern Mexico with the Rest of the Country: Its Association with Gastrointestinal Disease

Background ence of Helicobacter pylori varies among different geographic regions. The aim of this study was to assess H. pylori prevalence in symptomatic patients in northeastern Mexico and its possible association of H. pylori with disease. s died 261 symptomatic patients (female/male 1.44, mean age 53 years) who underwent gastrointestinal endoscopy at Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio Gonzلlez in Monterrey, Nuevo Leَn, Mexico. Among patients included in this study, 209 (80.1%) had nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD), 30 (11.5%) peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and 22 (8.4%) high-grade dysplasia or gastric cancer. H. pylori status was determined by histology, positive rapid urease test, culture, or IgG whole-cell anti-H. pylori. Specific IgG antibodies for CagA status were determined by ELISA as previously described. Patients were defined as infected with H. pylori by positive results of two or more diagnostic tests used. s l prevalence of H. pylori was 67.8%. According to clinical presentation, gender (male) was related with gastric cancer (p <0.01) and with PUD (p <0.05). Of 177 patients infected with H. pylori, 90 (50.8%) were seropositive for CagA antigen; in addition, H. pylori CagA+ was more common in patients with PUD (77.8%) than with NUD (43.2%) (p <0.05). However, no association was found between gastric cancer patients and presence of CagA+ H. pylori strains. sions ori prevalence in symptomatic patients in northeastern Mexico is as high as the prevalence reported for the entire country. We confirmed that patients with gastric cancer and PUD are more likely to be male. CagA+ strains were associated with patients who presented PUD but not gastric cancer.