trends in the prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection in fardis, iran, 2011 - 2014

Background: one of the most common causes of chronic bacterial infections is h. pylori and there is evidence indicative of its strong association with gastric cancer. objectives: we aimed to determine the prevalence of h. pylori infection using gram staining, igg, urea breath test (ubt), and stool antigen from patients with gastrointestinal (gi) symptoms. materials and methods: patients with gi symptoms who were referred to fardis central laboratory, fardis, iran for identification of h. pylori from different clinical specimens from 2011 to 2014 were included in this study. demographic data were retrieved from the medical records of enrolled patients. results: a total of 16002 patients were referred to fardis central laboratory, fardis, iran over the past 3 years. among them, 5662 (35.38%) were males and 10340 (64.62%) females; their mean age was 48 years (range 3 to 93 years). of 16002 patients tested, 6770 (83.77%), 137 (1.69%), and 1174 (14.54%) were positive for h. pylori according to the results of immunoglobulin g (igg), urea breath test (ubt), and h antigen, respectively. conclusions: h. pylori infection rate in patients referring to fardis lab with gi symptoms was relatively high which could be due to some health habits. although this kind of infection is considerably common, it can easily be diagnosed by noninvasive tests.