Awareness and attitudes regarding Helicobacter pylori infection in Chinese physicians and public population: A national cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of reports on the awareness of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) prevention and treatment in the general Chinese population. And whether the knowledge level will affect their action toward screening was unknown. This study aimed to conduct a national survey on the knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding H pylori infection in Chinese physicians and the public. METHODS: This was an Internet-based survey of the general Chinese population and Chinese physicians from different specialties, carried out from January to February 2019. Both surveys (general population's and physicians') included questions to assess the knowledge and attitudes toward H pylori and its action. RESULTS: A total of 3211 people and 546 physicians were enrolled. In the population, the proportion of subjects who answered correctly to all questions about H pylori's infectivity was only 16%, and that for H pylori's harmfulness and that for H pylori preventive measures were 35% and 43.6%, respectively. In general, physicians had a better understanding of H pylori's harmfulness (83.9%) than the other population. The vast majority of the surveyed population (87.0%) and physicians (82.2%) supported a national H pylori screening plan to prevent gastric cancer. The support ratio paralleled with the overall knowledge level. Unexpectedly, gastroenterologists tend to have a relatively low support rate for H pylori screening than non-gastroenterologists (58.2% vs 84.2%, P < .001), which may be related to consideration of heavy medical burden (67.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The general population in China has relatively insufficient awareness of H pylori, which is incompatible with the highly infectious status. More works on health education are needed to improve the knowledge of this gastric pathogen.

Efficacy and safety of cinitapride in the treatment of mild to moderate postprandial distress syndrome-predominant functional dyspepsia.

GOALS AND BACKGROUND: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a complex disease with a variety of dyspeptic symptoms. Little is known about the clinical efficacy of cinitapride, a 5-HT4 agonist and D2 antagonist, in treating FD. STUDY: This randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, positive-controlled study compared the efficacy and safety of cinitapride (1 mg) and domperidone (10 mg) tid for 4 weeks in 383 consecutive patients with mild to moderate, postprandial distress syndrome-predominant dyspeptic symptoms according to Rome III criteria. The primary endpoint was the noninferiority of cinitapride compared with domperidone in relief of symptoms. The overall patient evaluation of treatment and open gastric emptying effects of both drugs were treated as the secondary endpoints. RESULTS: The rates of symptom relief by cinitapride and domperidone after 4 weeks did not differ significantly on intension-to-treat analysis (85.8% vs. 81.8%, P=0.332). Cinitapride significantly reduced the overall severity of postprandial fullness, early satiation, and bloating (4.3±3.9 vs. 17.8±6.6, P<0.001); and it was superior to the effects of domperidone (5.4±4.9 vs. 18.4±6.9, P<0.001; P=0.021 between groups). Cinitapride also decreased the mean half-gastric emptying time from 131.1±119.4 to 86.5±18.7 minutes (P=0.0002). There was a positive relationship between symptoms and gastric emptying time (r=0.332, P=0.041). Cinitapride-related adverse events were observed in 9.1% of patients, including 1 patient with extrapyramidal symptoms. No patient experienced QT interval prolongation. CONCLUSIONS: This phase III trial has confirmed a noninferior efficacy of cinitapride over domperidone for patients with mild to moderate, postprandial distress syndrome-predominant FD. Cinitapride usage is well tolerated, but its cardiovascular events need further evaluation.

Adjuvant probiotics improve the eradication effect of triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori infection.

AIM: To investigate whether the addition of probiotics can improve the eradication effect of triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. METHODS: This open randomized trial recruited 234 H. pylori positive gastritis patients from seven local centers. The patients were randomized to one-week standard triple therapy (omeprazole 20 mg bid, clarithromycin 500 mg bid, and amoxicillin 1000 mg bid; OCA group, n = 79); two weeks of pre-treatment with probiotics, containing 3 × 10(7)Lactobacillus acidophilus per day, prior to one week of triple therapy (POCA group, n = 78); or one week of triple therapy followed by two weeks of the same probiotics (OCAP group, n = 77). Successful eradication was defined as a negative C13 or C14 urease breath test four weeks after triple therapy. Patients were asked to report associated symptoms at baseline and during follow-up, and side effects related to therapy were recorded. Data were analyzed by both intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) methods. RESULTS: PP analysis involved 228 patients, 78 in the OCA, 76 in the POCA and 74 in the OCAP group. Successful eradication was observed in 171 patients; by PP analysis, the eradication rates were significantly higher (P = 0.007 each) in the POCA (62/76; 81.6%, 95% CI 72.8%-90.4%) and OCAP (61/74; 82.4%, 95% CI 73.6%-91.2%) groups than in the OCA group (48/78; 61.5%, 95% CI 50.6%-72.4%). ITT analysis also showed that eradication rates were significantly higher in the POCA (62/78; 79.5%, 95% CI 70.4%-88.6%) and OCAP (61/77; 79.2%, 95% CI 70%-88.4%) groups than in the OCA group (48/79; 60.8%, 95% CI 49.9%-71.7%), (P = 0.014 and P = 0.015). The symptom relieving rates in the POCA, OCAP and OCA groups were 85.5%, 89.2% and 87.2%, respectively. Only one of the 228 patients experienced an adverse reaction. CONCLUSION: Administration of probiotics before or after standard triple therapy may improve H. pylori eradication rates.

Gastro-protecting effect of gefarnate on chronic erosive gastritis with dyspeptic symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The role of gastro-protecting agents on symptomatic chronic gastritis is unclear. This multicenter, open, randomized trial was designed to compare the comprehensive effects of gefarnate with sucralfate on erosive gastritis with dyspeptic symptoms. METHODS: Totally 253 dyspepsia patients confirmed with erosive gastritis were enrolled from six centers in China. They randomly received either daily 300 mg gefarnate or 3 g sucralfate for six weeks. The primary endpoint was the effective rate of both treatments on endoscopic erosion at week six. RESULTS: Gefarnate showed an effective rate of 72% and 67% on endoscopic score and dyspeptic symptom release, which is statistically higher than sucralfate (40.1% and 39.3%, P < 0.001, intension-to-treat). For histological improvement, gefarnate showed both effective in decreasing mucosal chronic inflammation (57.7% vs. 24.8%, P < 0.001, intension-to-treat) and active inflammation (36.4% vs. 23.1%, P < 0.05, intension-to-treat) than the control. A significant increase of prostaglandins and decrease of myeloperoxidase in mucosa were observed in gefarnate group. Severity of erosion is non-relevant to symptoms but Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) status does affect the outcome of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Gefarnate demonstrates an effective outcome on the mucosal inflammation in patients with chronic erosive gastritis. Endoscopic and inflammation score should be the major indexes used in gastritis-related trials.

[A study of extraesophageal presentations in gastroesophageal reflux disease].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this prospective multi-center study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of extraesophageal reflux disorders (EED) in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients and the therapeutic effect of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) on EED. METHODS: We investigated GERD patients in 4 hospitals in Shanghai in a same time period. These patients were diagnosed as GERD by finding reflux esophagitis (RE) on endoscopy or with abnormal reflux during 24 h esophageal pH monitoring. Typical GERD symptoms and EED symptoms were evaluated by questionnaire. Patients with EED symptoms underwent videolaryngoscopy and abnormalities were recorded. RESULTS: Totally 200 subjects were enrolled in this study. Among them 95 patients complained of EED. The RE cases were 134 in number and EED occurred in 65 of the RE patients. The commonest presenting symptom of EED was globus or foreign body feeling in the throat (27%), followed by cough, soar throat and hoarseness. Asthma was a rare symptom, the occurrence being 21%, 16%, 11% and 3% respectively. The rate of typical GERD symptoms existing in EED group was 56%. The severity of EED symptoms showed no significant difference between RE and NERD patients. Abnormalities were found in 58% of subjects with EED on laryngoscopy, the occurrence of arytenoids medial wall erythema/edema was 25%, vocal cord erythema/edema was 32%, posterior pharyngeal wall cobble stoning was 20%, and 42% of the patients showed no abnormalities on laryngoscopy. Higher dosage PPI therapy showed effects on the relief of EED, and the relief rate was 95% after 8 weeks of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that a significant part of GERD patients suffered from EED, and value of laryngoscopy and 24 h pH monitoring is limited for the diagnosis of EED. Higher dosage of PPI was effective for the treatment of EED.