PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION AMONG GASTRIC BIOPSIES IN TIRUCHIRAPALLI – ONE YEAR HOSPITAL BASED STUDY

Prabhusaran N.*, Sampath G., Sridharan M., Uma A. and Pramila R.

ABSTRACT

Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the common gastrointestinal infections worldwide. It is closely associated with acute to chronic gastritis followed by peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. This study is mainly aimed to analyze the prevalence of H. pylori infection among suspected patients who are enrolled at gastroenterology OP with specific symptoms thereby the tissue samples were determined for infection by histopathologically and microbiologically. The socio-economic details and environmental risk factors were also well analyzed in this study. This prospective study was achieved in 2016 to 2017 by recruiting total of 157 suspected OP and IP patients. Endoscopic examination was done; gastric biopsies were obtained from antrum and corpus, and H. pylori infection was diagnosed using histopathology and rapid urease test. Out of 157 patients included, 82 (52.2%) were positive for H. pylori infection. The positive observation was found higher 65.1% among males and 25.5% in females and increased in increasing age. The risk factor variables like animal contact, more family members are highly correlated with the prevalence while other factors are not having any associations. The histopathology and rapid urease test supported the existence of presence of H. pylori infection. The prevalence of H. pylori infection is moderate in the study area compared with the literature. The aged individuals, more children in the family, crowded environment, poor living conditions and history of ulcers are closely associated with H. pylori infections. Further formulation and designing preventive health strategies are very important to protect young generations against this infection.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, infections, gastric biopsies, histopathology, microbiology.