Background: Noninvasive testing for Helicobacter pylori is widely available and has been considered as an initial management strategy for uninvestigated dyspepsia. However, data to guide clinicians in the management of patients with dyspepsia who are seropositive for H. pylori are lacking.
Objective: To examine the economic, clinical, and policy implications of alternative initial management strategies for patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia who are seropositive for H. pylori.
Design: Decision analysis comparing the costs and outcomes of initial anti-H. pylori therapy and initial endoscopy.
Patients: Helicobacter pylori-seropositive patients with dyspepsia.
Measurements: Cost estimates were obtained from the Medicare reimbursement schedule and a health maintenance organization pharmacy. Probability estimates were derived from the medical literature.
Results: Initial endoscopy costs an average of $1276 per patient, whereas initial anti-H, pylori therapy costs $820 per patient; the average saving is $456 per patient treated. The financial effect of a 252% increase in the use of antibiotics for initial H. pylori therapy is more than offset by reducing the endoscopy workload by 53%. Endoscopy-related costs must be reduced by 96% before the two strategies become equally cost-effective. In patients with nonulcer dyspepsia, the financial benefits of initial anti-H. pylori therapy are not substantially affected by varying the rates of H. pylori eradication, the complications of antibiotics, or the response of symptoms to cure of H. pylori infection.
Conclusions: In H. pylori-seropositive patients with dyspepsia, initial anti-H. pylori therapy is the most cost, effective management strategy. Randomized studies of these strategies that evaluate outcomes and patient preferences are needed to optimize management decisions. In the meantime, unless physicians are concerned about resistance to antimicrobial agents or the lack of proven benefit of anti-H. pylori therapy in nonucler dyspepsia, the strategy outlined in this analysis can be used as a basis for management and policy decisions about H. pylori-seropositive patients with dyspepsia.