A recent study published in Maedica aimed to identify which of the two first-line therapy options is more efficient; and to assess the improvement in the quality of life among patients with Helicobacter pylori infection. Here, 96 patients with confirmed Helicobacter pylori infection were divided in two treatment groups – 47 patients received a 10-day triple therapy with esomeprazole 80 mg/day, amoxicillin 2000 mg/day and clarithromycin 1000 mg/day (ECA); while the remaining 49 were given a 10-day sequential therapy: esomeprazole 40 mg and amoxicillin 1000 mg, twice daily for five days, followed by esomeprazole 40 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg and metronidazole 500 mg (ECM), twice daily for another five days. The drop-out rate of the participants was 24%. The findings revealed that for the ECA therapy group, the efficacy rate was 94%, and that of the ECM treated group, it was 95%. There was no significant difference regarding the baseline characteristics between the two groups. Meanwhile, the entire group treatment tolerability was approximately 85%, with no statistical difference between groups. On the other hand, quality of life improvement was 11.18 points in the ECA treated group and 13.4 points in the ECM treated group. Furthermore, regarding the quality of life improvement, the results were positive, irrespective of the type of peptic disease. However, the most important results were obtained in peptic ulcer disease, functional dyspepsia and chronic gastritis. Therefore, it was concluded that both ECA and ECM regimens are almost equally effective in Helicobacter pylori eradication and markedly improve the quality of life irrespective of type of peptic disease.⁷

References

1. PREDA CM, PROCA D, SANDRA I, et al. A Comparative Study of Efficacy and Safety of Two Eradication Regimens for Helicobacter pylori Infection. Mædica. 2017;12(3):157-163.