Are physicians ready to comply with the guidelines for diagnosis and management of Helicobacter pylori-associated diseases: the survey results 2020–2021

Abstract

Objective: To assess compliance of physicians with diagnostic and management guidelines for H. pylori-associated diseases with a question-naire-based survey.Materials and methods: We conducted an anonymous voluntary online survey of 775 physicians of the following specialties: internal medicine 459 (59.2%), gastroenterology 279 (36%), and endoscopy 34 (4.4%). The respondents expressed their level of agreement with the questionnaire items as follows: 0 – I do not know, 1 – disagree, 2 – partially agree, and 3 – fully agree.Results: 613 (79.4%) of the physicians fully agreed to diagnose and treat H. pylori in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis, 602 (78.0%) in the 1 st degree relatives of gastric cancer patients, 525 (68.0%) in patients with chronic superficial gastritis, 423 (54.8%) in peptic ulcer at remission, and 336 (43.4%) in those with dyspepsia syndrome. The physicians were equally compliant with eradication therapy in the patients, for whom long term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) or non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is being planned (386 (50.0%) and 397 (51.4%), respectively). Internists were less compliant with diagnosis and management of H. pylori in patients taking both PPI (χ2 = 66.525, p = 0.004) and NSAID (χ2 = 103.354, p = 0.003). Among the primary diagnostic tools for H. pylori the physicians preferred 13/14С-urease breath test (545 physicians, or 70.6%) and gastric bioptate morphology (574, or 74.4%), and among the control diagnostic methods they chose fаeces analyses (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction). The respondents considered bismuth-enhanced standard triple therapy with clarithromycin to be the most effective regimen for the 1 st line eradication therapy (606, 78.5%). To increase the efficacy of eradication therapy, the physicians were more prone to administer esomeprazole or rabeprazole (70.6%), bismuth-based agents (79.4%), than to use rebamipid (35%), probiotics (44.9%) and/or to double PPI doses (44.2%). The respondents expressed their concerns with low patient compliance to treatment (59.4%) and limited diagnostic capabilities (49.4%).Conclusion: Physician's compliance with the guidelines on diagnosis and management of H. pylori-associated diseases is adequate and might depend on both their awareness and availability of the proposed diagnostic and therapeutic methods.