The Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in a Quaternary Hospital in Canada

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) prevalence in Canada has been estimated to be around 20% to 30%. However, H. pylori prevalence is declining in industrialized countries. We conducted a retrospective study on a population of patients referred for esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) in a Canadian quaternary hospital to see the current prevalence of H. pylori infection and identify its main risk factors. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study from the Electronic Medical Records of 500 patients who visited our endoscopy clinic and who had biopsies to search for H. pylori infection. In addition to the outcome of the biopsies, we collected demographic characteristics of patients, EGD indication and endoscopic findings. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of H. pylori was 13.0% (65/500) among our population. We found no association with age, sex, tobacco or alcohol consumption. However, we noticed a significantly higher prevalence of H. pylori among African (25.0%; 8/32), Asian (30.8%; 4/13) and South American (34.9%; 15/43) born subjects when compared to the Caucasian group (8.0%; 28/350) (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of H. pylori in Canada is declining, particularly among its Caucasian population. The race seems to be the strongest risk factor associated with this infection.