Helicobacter Pylori Infection Rate Among Patients Presenting with Different Gastrointestinal Symptoms at Lancet Clinical Laboratories from January 2024 to December 2024.

Abstract

Infection with Helicobacter pylori occurs everywhere across the world with the highest burden recorded on the African continent with a prevalence of 70.1%. H. pylori infection manifests itself with different gastrointestinal symptoms (GIT). There is limited research on the burden of H. pylori infection among patients presenting with different GIT symptoms in Zimbabwe specifically, as only one study was conducted focusing on the general asymptomatic population. Therefore, this study sought to address this gap in the current knowledge by determining H. pylori infection rate among patients presenting with different GIT symptoms. The study was a retrospective cross sectional quantitative study conducted at Lancet Clinical Laboratories, Harare main branch. One hundred and eighty (180) H. pylori stool Ag test results from patients who were naïve to treatment were included in the study. A data extraction form was used to compile the relevant patient data. The data was analysed using the Chi-square test of association or Fisher’s exact test in IBM SPSS version 27. A p value cut off of p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all the statistical tests conducted. The results of the study revealed a prevalence of 31.1%. Older adults aged 51 years and above were the most infected group, with a prevalence of 44.6%. A statistically significant association was found between loss of appetite, abdominal pain and H. pylori infection with p values 0.028 and 0.001, respectively. There was a higher frequency of abdominal pain in patients with positive H. pylori Ag in stool (28.5%) while there was a lower frequency in those with negative H. pylori, (X2(1) = 10.484, p value = 0.001, p ≤ 0.05). There was no statistically significant association for H. pylori Ag in stool regarding the following GIT symptoms heartburn, nausea, bloating, blood in stool, indigestion and vomiting. A statistically significant association between iron deficiency anaemia and H. pylori infection was found (X2(1) = 3.974, p value = 0.046, p ≤ 0.05). There was no statistically significant association for H. pylori Ag in stool regarding the following comorbid diseases Hypertension, Hyperthyroidism, Peripheral neuropathy, Arthritis, Gout and Cardiac disease. The study concluded that H. pylori infection rate was relatively high among patients presenting with GIT symptoms with abdominal pain being the most common GIT presentation. The study recommended that incorporating H. pylori standard diagnostic tests in symptomatic older adults who are at risk would