HelicobacterPub Date : 2026-04-07DOI: 10.1111/hel.70121
Jin Young Park, Il Ju Choi
{"title":"Advancing Gastric Cancer Prevention in Korea: Current Strategies and Future Directions","authors":"Jin Young Park, Il Ju Choi","doi":"10.1111/hel.70121","DOIUrl":"10.1111/hel.70121","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Korea has historically borne a high burden of gastric cancer, although substantial epidemiological transitions have occurred over recent decades. Gastric cancer was the most common cancer until 2018, but declined to fifth by 2022. Gastric cancer incidence has decreased steadily, accompanied by marked reductions in mortality and substantial improvements in survival, with 5 year overall survival rate now exceeding 75%. During this period, <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> (<i>H. pylori</i>) seroprevalence has shown a decreasing trend, especially in younger generations.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Randomized controlled trials conducted in high-risk groups have demonstrated that <i>H. pylori</i> eradication significantly reduces gastric cancer risk. To further evaluate the role of <i>H. pylori</i> eradication as a primary prevention strategy in the general population, HELPER is currently ongoing in Korea in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer. For secondary prevention of gastric cancer, the Korean National Cancer Screening Program (KNCSP) was launched in 1999 and provides biennial endoscopic screening for adults aged 40 years or older.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The HELPER study had screened <i>H. pylori</i> status in > 12,000 average-risk Korean participants who had participated in KNCSP up to 2019. Individuals with <i>H. pylori</i> infection were randomized to receive either bismuth quadruple therapy or placebo. The participants have been followed up through the KNCSP, and an interim analysis is planned after a 6 year follow-up period. Secondary prevention through the KNCSP has achieved high participation rates and is strongly associated with reduced gastric cancer mortality, stage migration to early disease, and increased use of endoscopic treatment.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The current uniform screening strategy does not incorporate individual risk stratification and is costly. Future integration of <i>H. pylori</i> eradication and objective assessment of gastric atrophy into risk-adapted screening and surveillance strategies may optimize effectiveness, reduce healthcare costs, and further decrease the burden of gastric cancer in Korea.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13223,"journal":{"name":"Helicobacter","volume":"31 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147633290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HelicobacterPub Date : 2026-04-03DOI: 10.1111/hel.70123
Andrea Teng, James Stanley, Melissa McLeod
{"title":"Journey Towards Piloting Helicobacter pylori Screen-and-Treat to Address Health Inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand","authors":"Andrea Teng, James Stanley, Melissa McLeod","doi":"10.1111/hel.70123","DOIUrl":"10.1111/hel.70123","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) face the greatest barriers to healthcare access, poorest health outcomes, and disproportionate levels of deprivation.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper outlines the (1) epidemiology of <i>H. pylori</i> and its sequelae, (2) inequities in the current <i>H. pylori</i> approach, (3) research into screen-and-treat, and (4) our recommendations going forward.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>There are stark ethnic differences in prevalence of <i>H. pylori</i> infection and its sequelae in Aotearoa—with higher <i>H. pylori</i> infection prevalence and gastric cancer incidence and higher numbers of hospitalisations for peptic ulcer in Māori, Pacific, and Asian ethnicities than in European. The opportunistic approach taken to <i>H. pylori</i> testing has created inequities. Māori and Pacific are less likely to be tested for <i>H. pylori</i> than European, despite the higher prevalence of infection in these populations. In Aotearoa, a targeted screen-and-treat approach has been shown to be more cost-effective than a population–wide strategy.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>There is an urgent need to introduce a screen-and-treat pilot in Aotearoa, which should be led by Māori. Piloting of screen-and-treat is useful for evaluating invitation, testing and treatment strategies. Further <i>cost</i>–effectiveness modeling could support the evaluation of more specific targeting, test choice, and treatment choice where input data allow.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13223,"journal":{"name":"Helicobacter","volume":"31 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13047468/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147607998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HelicobacterPub Date : 2026-04-01DOI: 10.1111/hel.70119
Olga P. Nyssen, Laimas Jonaitis, Ángeles Pérez-Aísa, Bojan Tepes, Umud Mahmudov, Irina Voynovan, Samuel J. Martínez-Domínguez, Luis Bujanda, Alfredo J. Lucendo, Ludmila Vologzanina, Ana Garre, Frode Lerang, Sayar R. Abdulkhakov, Matteo Pavoni, Maja Denkovski, Emin Mammadov, Mārcis Leja, Javier Tejedor-Tejada, Jose M. Huguet, Galyna Fadieienko, Ilchishina Tatiana, Manuel Pabón-Carrasco, Aiman S. Sarsenbaeva, Oleg Zaytsev, Gülüstan Babayeva, Jesús Barrio, Miguel Areia, Monica Perona, Óscar Núñez, Antonietta G. Gravina, Sergey Alekseenko, Blas José Gómez Rodríguez, Quliyev Fərid Vidadi Oğlu, Inmaculada Ortiz-Polo, Antonio Moreno Loro, György Miklós Buzás, Boris D. Starostin, Juozas Kupcinskas, Dmitry S. Bordin, Antonio Gasbarrini, Oleksiy Gridnyev, Ricardo Marcos-Pinto, Manuel Jiménez-Moreno, Mónica Sánchez Alonso, Virginia Flores, Irene Arteagoitia, Anna Cano-Català, Pablo Parra, Leticia Moreira, Javier P. Gisbert, the Hp-EuReg investigators
{"title":"Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 as Adjunct Therapy for Helicobacter pylori Eradication: Data From the European Registry on H. pylori Management (Hp-EuReg)","authors":"Olga P. Nyssen, Laimas Jonaitis, Ángeles Pérez-Aísa, Bojan Tepes, Umud Mahmudov, Irina Voynovan, Samuel J. Martínez-Domínguez, Luis Bujanda, Alfredo J. Lucendo, Ludmila Vologzanina, Ana Garre, Frode Lerang, Sayar R. Abdulkhakov, Matteo Pavoni, Maja Denkovski, Emin Mammadov, Mārcis Leja, Javier Tejedor-Tejada, Jose M. Huguet, Galyna Fadieienko, Ilchishina Tatiana, Manuel Pabón-Carrasco, Aiman S. Sarsenbaeva, Oleg Zaytsev, Gülüstan Babayeva, Jesús Barrio, Miguel Areia, Monica Perona, Óscar Núñez, Antonietta G. Gravina, Sergey Alekseenko, Blas José Gómez Rodríguez, Quliyev Fərid Vidadi Oğlu, Inmaculada Ortiz-Polo, Antonio Moreno Loro, György Miklós Buzás, Boris D. Starostin, Juozas Kupcinskas, Dmitry S. Bordin, Antonio Gasbarrini, Oleksiy Gridnyev, Ricardo Marcos-Pinto, Manuel Jiménez-Moreno, Mónica Sánchez Alonso, Virginia Flores, Irene Arteagoitia, Anna Cano-Català, Pablo Parra, Leticia Moreira, Javier P. Gisbert, the Hp-EuReg investigators","doi":"10.1111/hel.70119","DOIUrl":"10.1111/hel.70119","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p><i>Saccharomyces boulardii</i> CNCM I-745 (Sb) is one of the most widely used probiotics in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of adding Sb to <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> eradication therapy on treatment outcomes (effectiveness and safety) in routine European gastroenterology clinical practice.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Treatment-naive cases from the European registry on <i>H. pylori</i> management (Hp-EuReg) collected from 2013 to 2023 at AEG-REDCap were analyzed. Effectiveness was assessed by modified intention-to-treat, by treatment and geographic regions. Multivariate analysis identified factors independently associated with eradication success and adverse event incidence.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Among 69,922 cases, probiotics were used in 16,528 (24%) treatments, of which 4404 (27%) included Sb. Sb use was significantly associated with an increase in effectiveness (OR = 2.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.38–4.03; <i>p</i> < 0.01) only when prescribed with concomitant therapy encompassing a proton pump inhibitor plus clarithromycin-amoxicillin-metronidazole. In addition, a significant reduction in the overall incidence of at least one adverse event was observed in the Sb group (OR = 0.803; 0.66–0.97; <i>p</i> < 0.05). Specifically, diarrhea, nausea, dyspepsia, abdominal pain, asthenia, anorexia, heartburn, and dysgeusia occurred significantly less frequently with Sb. Treatment compliance was high in both groups (with and without Sb).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In Europe, the addition of Sb to first-line regimens in clinical practice was associated with higher effectiveness when combined with concomitant therapy with clarithromycin-amoxicillin-metronidazole and with fewer overall adverse events, supporting its role as a beneficial adjunct in <i>H. pylori</i> eradication therapy.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Registration Number</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02328131</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13223,"journal":{"name":"Helicobacter","volume":"31 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043801/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147592035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
HelicobacterPub Date : 2026-04-01DOI: 10.1111/hel.70122
Encarnación Fernández-Antón, Olga P. Nyssen, Gabriela Alonso-Martínez, Pablo Parra, Miguel Gil, Javier P. Gisbert, Francisco J. de Abajo
{"title":"Helicobacter pylori Eradication Primary Care First-Line Prescriptions: Data From 200,000 Patients in a Real-World Cohort","authors":"Encarnación Fernández-Antón, Olga P. Nyssen, Gabriela Alonso-Martínez, Pablo Parra, Miguel Gil, Javier P. Gisbert, Francisco J. de Abajo","doi":"10.1111/hel.70122","DOIUrl":"10.1111/hel.70122","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p><i>Helicobacter pylori</i> is a common infection primarily managed in primary care. Assessing real-world practices and guideline adherence is crucial for treatment optimisation. The study aims to assess current <i>H. pylori</i> management strategies using data from BIFAP, a Spanish primary care database.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cohort study including patients aged ≥ 18 with recorded <i>H. pylori</i> infection (2003–2023) and corresponding treatment prescriptions. Infection cases were identified using ICD-9/10 and SNOMED-CT codes. Treatment patterns were based on Spanish and European guidelines. First-line treatment prescriptions were compared between primary (BIFAP) and specialized (European Registry, Hp-EuReg) care.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A total of 211,972 <i>H. pylori-</i>infected subjects were identified. Over the study period (20 years), the predominant first-line treatments were: bismuth quadruple therapy including a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) plus a single capsule containing bismuth-tetracycline-metronidazole (36%); PPI + clarithromycin-amoxicillin (30%); and PPI + clarithromycin-amoxicillin-metronidazole (26%). Single-capsule bismuth quadruple therapy was the most common in patients aged 18–64 and those with obesity, chronic kidney disease, or smokers, while PPI + clarithromycin-amoxicillin was more common in those aged ≥ 65 or with peptic ulcers. Since 2013, PPI + clarithromycin-amoxicillin use by general practitioners and gastroenterologists decreased, though it remained above 10% in primary care at study end. PPI + clarithromycin-amoxicillin-metronidazole increased since 2015, with higher use in specialized care (40%) vs. primary care (30%). In 2023, single-capsule bismuth quadruple therapy was the most prescribed regimen in both settings, accounting for ~60% of prescriptions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Primary care <i>H. pylori</i> treatments are varied, with single-capsule bismuth quadruple therapy most prescribed. Guidelines are followed, but adoption is slower in primary than in specialized care.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13223,"journal":{"name":"Helicobacter","volume":"31 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13044324/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147592022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}