Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Southern Part of Iran

Background: There are clear variations between and within countries regarding the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori. In addition, there are no estimations of its prevalence in the general population in the south of Iran. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of H. pylori in the rural population of Kavar, a southern city of Iran. Methods: A random sample of 500 individuals were selected from the Kavar cohort study. Serum total IgG against H. pylori was checked. The serum positive patients recalled for stool sampling and the H. pylori stool antigen was checked using sandwich ELISA. Moreover, age and gender were recorded for all patients. Results: Among the remained 441 who participated, 254 patients (57.6%) were positive for serum IgG. A total of 14 patients (5.5%) gave up due to stool sampling unsatisfaction. Overall, the rate of H. pylori infection based on both serum IgG and stool Ag of H. pylori was 41.5%. There were no significant association between gender and H. pylori stool antigen positivity (P = 0.776). Furthermore, no differences were detected between different ages categorized in positivity for stool antigen of H. pylori (P = 0.327). The mean and SD of age for negative and positive groups were 40.98 ± 15.42 and 43.65 ± 15.65 years, respectively (P = 0.267). Conclusions: The prevalence of the H. pylori infection in our study based on serum IgG and stool Ag positivity was 41.5%, which are lower than many previous reported rates. Further studies in larger sample size and in different rural populations are needed.