the prevalence of helicobacter pylori is decreasing in iranian patients

aim: the objective of this study was to evaluate the time trend of helicobacter pylori ( h. pylori ) prevalence and presence of intestinal metaplasia over the period of 7 years in gastritis iranian patients. background: h. pylori are the major causal factor in chronic gastritis. its acquisition leads to a chronic, usually lifelong, inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which may gradually progress to atrophy with intestinal metaplasia in a significant proportion of infected individuals. patients and methods: h. pylori and intestinal metaplasia data among 14,860 consecutive gastritis patients, who referred to the gastrointestinal department of tehran’s taleghani hospital in iran, was examined across the sex and age group. the patients were divided into 6 age groups (16-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60 and >70). results: the overall prevalence rate among patient with h . pylori infection was 83.5% (12406/14860) and 11,394 (84.1%) of them were related to the gastritis. the prevalence rate of h . pylori among patient with severe gastritis significantly higher ( p <0.05) compared to mild and moderate gastritis. in addition, the prevalence decreased with age and also has declined in recent years. presence of intestinal metaplasia increased with age ( p <0.05). conclusion: the results of this study showed that the prevalence of h . pylori infection in iranian population has declined in recent years; nevertheless it seems to be highly prevalent in iran. we also find a significant positive relationship between h . pylori infection and gastritis. there is no association between sex and infection but in contrast with the most studies its prevalence decreased with age.