Multicenter endoscopic study reveals elevated precancerous stomach lesions with Helicobacter pylori in endoscopy patients, highlighting targets for gastric cancer prevention.
Key Points
To update the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and extensive gastric precancerous lesions among patients undergoing their first upper endoscopy.
Nationwide, multicenter study enrolling consecutive patients (N=775) undergoing first-time upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with standard biopsies.
Gathered clinical, endoscopic, and histological findings and evaluated risk factors using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.
H. pylori infection occurred in 22.2% of patients (172/775) and was significantly more prevalent in patients aged ≥50 years than in younger cohorts (26.2% vs. 13.7%; OR: 2.23; 95% CI = 1.48–3.36; p < 0.001).
Extensive gastric precancerous lesions, including mucosal atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, were detected in 2.6% of patients.
Multivariate analysis identified independent risk factors for extensive precancerous lesions as H. pylori infection (OR: 4.77; 95% CI = 1.51–15; p = 0.007), family history of gastric cancer (OR: 4.86; 95% CI = 1.36–15; p = 0.007), and increasing age (OR: 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02–1.13; p = 0.007).