COMPARISON OF 7 – DAY CONCOMITANT THERAPY REGIMEN VERSUS CLASSIC TRIPLE THERAPY REGIMEN IN HELICOBACTER PYLORI ERADICATION: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

There are various treatment regimens including different antibiotics and antacid medications for eradicating Helicobacter pylori to compare the effectiveness of 7-day concomitant regime with classic triple regimen in eradicating H. pylori. In this randomized clinical trial, 206 dyspeptic patients proven H. pylori infection, attended to a gastrointestinal clinic in Khorramabad (west of Iran) were studied. The patients were randomly divided in two equal groups. Classic group were treated for 14 days with a regimen including omeprazole 20mg, amoxicillin 1g and clarithromycin 500mg, twice daily. In concomitant group, the patients were treated for 7 days with a regimen including omeprazole 20mg, amoxicillin 1g, clarithromycin 500mg and metronidazole 500mg twice daily. During the treatment period and a week after the end of treatment, the patients were evaluated in terms of possible side-effects and medication acceptance and tolerance. For confirmation of eradication, 6 weeks after the end of treatment, urea breath test with carbon 13 (UBT) was done for both the groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, T-test and chi-square test, logistic regression through SPSS software version 21. The level of significance was considered less than 0.05. H. pylori eradication rate in classic group was 68.9% and in concomitant group was 83.4%. (p – value = 0.03). The incidence of gastrointestinal side-effects was not statistically different between the groups. H. pylori eradication rate in 7-day concomitant treatment regimen is more than 14-day classic regimens. Therefore, it is suggested to use 7-day concomitant regimen as first-line of H. pylori eradication.