Baseline characteristics of Helicobacter pylori first-line empirical treatments by region
| Variable | Overall | East | South-east | South-west | Centre | North |
| Number of patients | 21 533 | 3679 | 4299 | 10 118 | 1985 | 1452 |
| Female, N (%) | 12 743 (59.2) | 2180 (59.0) | 2492 (58.0) | 6147 (60.8) | 1192 (60.0) | 732 (50.0) |
| Age, mean (SD) | 50.4 (18.0) | 46.4 (15.0) | 52.2 (15.0) | 50.5 (15.0) | 52.2 (15.0) | 52.7 (18.0) |
| Penicillin allergy, N (%) | 670 (3.1) | 57 (1.5) | 126 (2.9) | 414 (4.1) | 13 (0.7) | 60 (4.1) |
| Indication | ||||||
| Dyspepsia | 17 800 (82.7) | 2679 (7.8) | 3507 (81.6) | 8595 (84.9) | 1896 (95.5) | 1123 (77.3) |
| Ulcer disease | 3733 (17.3) | 1000 (27.2) | 792 (18.4) | 1523 (15.1) | 89 (4.5) | 329 (2.7) |
| Culture, N (%) | 2396 (11.1) | 67 (1.8) | 219 (5.1) | 365 (3.6) | 1397 (70.4) | 348 (24.0) |
| No resistance | 1087 (45.4) | 20 (29.7) | 143 (65.3) | 211 (57.8) | 552 (39.5) | 209 (60.1) |
| C | 543 (22.7) | 22 (32.4) | 27 (12.1) | 54 (14.9) | 401 (28.7) | 36 (10.2) |
| M | 766 (32.0) | 25 (37.8) | 49 (22.2) | 100 (27.5) | 444 (31.8) | 103 (29.7) |
| Dual C+M | 321 (13.4) | 2 (2.7) | 15 (7.1) | 18 (5.0) | 233 (16.7) | 19 (5.6) |
| Treatment length, N (%) | ||||||
| 7 days | 4109 (19.6) | 568 (16.2) | 2548 (60.0) | 165 (1.7) | 68 (3.8) | 760 (53.9) |
| 10 days | 11 461 (54.8) | 2080 (59.2) | 981 (23.1) | 6220 (62.5) | 1691 (94.0) | 489 (34.7) |
| 14 days | 5361 (25.6) | 867 (24.7) | 719 (16.9) | 3574 (35.9) | 39 (2.2) | 162 (11.5) |
| PPI dose, N (%) | ||||||
| Low | 10 090 (48.9) | 1813 (56.6) | 2556 (60.6) | 3.920 (39.1) | 718 (40.3) | 1083 (76.9) |
| Standard | 4211 (20.4) | 1135 (35.6) | 306 (7.3) | 2572 (25.7) | 75 (4.2) | 123 (8.7) |
| High | 6325 (30.7) | 253 (7.9) | 1357 (32.2) | 3525 (35.2) | 987 (55.4) | 203 (14.4) |
| Compliance, N (%) | ||||||
| No (<90% drug intake) | 592 (3.0) | 97 (2.7) | 120 (3.0) | 287 (3.0) | 63 (4.3) | 25 (1.8) |
| Yes (≥90% drug intake) | 18 821 (97.0) | 3447 (97.3) | 3239 (96.4) | 9370 (97.0) | 1410 (95.7) | 1355 (98.2) |
| Unknown | 2119 (9.8) | 134 (3.6) | 940 (24.5) | 461 (4.4) | 512 (26) | 72 (5.0) |
| Most frequent treatments, N (%) | ||||||
| PPI-C+A | 8478 (39.4) | 1775 (48.2) | 2571 (59.3) | 3160 (31.2) | 132 (6.6) | 840 (57.9) |
| PPI-C+M | 1046 (4.9) | 28 (0.8) | 816 (19.0) | 127 (1.3) | 4 (0.2) | 71 (4.9) |
| PPI-A+M | 561 (2.6) | 56 (1.5) | 92 (2.1) | 51 (0.5) | 3 (0.2) | 359 (24.7) |
| PPI-A+L | 405 (1.9) | 227 (6.2) | 28 (0.7) | 132 (1.3) | 6 (0.3) | 12 (0.8) |
| PPI-C+A+T seq | 1228 (5.7) | 9 (0.2) | 68 (1.6) | 4 (0.0) | 1128 (56.8) | 19 (1.3) |
| PPI-C+A+M seq | 620 (2.9) | 25 (0.7) | 175 (4.1) | 281 (38.6) | 92 (4.6) | 47 (3.2) |
| PPI-C+A+T conc | 190 (0.9) | 1 (0.0) | 51 (1.2) | 0 (0.0) | 121 (6.1) | 17 (1.2) |
| PPI-C+A+M conc | 4176 (19.4) | 14 (0.4) | 250 (5.8) | 3910 (38.6) | 1 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) |
| PPI-C+A+B | 1756 (8.2) | 800 (21.7) | 0 (0.0) | 956 (9.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| PPI-M+Tc+B | 192 (0.9) | 30 (0.8) | 7 (0.2) | 41 (0.4) | 99 (5.0) | 15 (1.0) |
| PPI-M+D+B | 59 (0.3) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.0) | 56 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.1) |
| PPI+single capsule* | 1351 (6.3) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 1144 (11.3) | 189 (9.5) | 17 (1.2) |
| Other | 1471 (6.8) | 714 (19.4) | 238 (5.5) | 256 (2.5) | 210 (10.6) | 53 (3.7) |
Low dose PPI: 4.5–27 mg omeprazole equivalents, two times per day (ie, 20 mg omeprazole equivalents, two times per day), standard dose PPI: 32–40 mg omeprazole equivalents, two times per day (ie, 40 mg omeprazole equivalents, two times per day), high dose PPI: 54–128 mg omeprazole equivalents,two times per day (ie, 60 mg omeprazole equivalents, two times per day).
*Three-in-one single capsule containing bismuth, tetracycline and metronidazole.
A, amoxicillin; B, bismuth salts; C, clarithromycin; Conc, concomitant; D, doxycycline; L, levofloxacin; M, metronidazole; PPI, proton pump inhibitor; Seq, sequential; T, tinidazole; Tc, tetracycline.