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Abstract
Objective Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic disorder that is difficult to treat. Helicobacter pylori may contribute to its pathophysiology. A Cochrane review from 2006 suggested that eradication therapy was beneficial, but there have been numerous randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published since. We evaluated impact of eradication therapy on both cure and improvement of FD, as well as whether any benefit was likely to arise from eradication of H. pylori.
Design We searched the medical literature through October 2021 to identify RCTs examining efficacy of eradication therapy in H. pylori-positive adults with FD. The control arm received antisecretory therapy or prokinetics, with or without placebo antibiotics, or placebo alone. Follow-up was for ≥3 months. We pooled dichotomous data to obtain a relative risk (RR) of symptoms not being cured or symptoms not improving with a 95% CI. We estimated the number needed to treat (NNT).
Results Twenty-nine RCTs recruited 6781 H. pylori-positive patients with FD. Eradication therapy was superior to control for symptom cure (RR of symptoms not being cured=0.91; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.94, NNT=14; 95% CI 11 to 21) and improvement (RR of symptoms not improving=0.84; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.91, NNT=9; 95% CI 7 to 17). There was no significant correlation between eradication rate and RR of FD improving or being cured (Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.23, p=0.907), but the effect was larger in patients with successful eradication of H. pylori than with unsuccessful eradication (RR=0.65; 95% CI 0.52 to 0.82, NNT=4.5, 95% CI 3 to 9). Adverse events (RR=2.19; 95% 1.10 to 4.37) and adverse events leading to withdrawal (RR=2.60; 95% CI 1.47 to 4.58) were more common with eradication therapy.
Conclusion There is high quality evidence to suggest that H. pylori eradication therapy leads to both cure and improvement in FD symptoms, although the benefit is modest.
- functional dyspepsia
- meta-analysis
- helicobacter pylori
Data availability statement
No data are available. Not applicable.
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Data availability statement
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Footnotes
Contributors ACF, ET, GIL, YY and PM conceived and drafted the study. ACF, ET, YY and PM collected all data and analysed and interpreted the data. ACF, YY and PM drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on drafts of the paper and have approved the final draft of the manuscript. ACF is guarantor. He accepts full responsibility for the work and the conduct of the study, had access to the data and controlled the decision to publish. The corresponding author attests that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that no others meeting the criteria have been omitted.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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