Effectiveness of Rebamipide as a part of the <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> eradication therapy in Russia: a meta-analysis of controlled trials

Abstract

Aim. To perform a meta-analysis of the data on Rebamipide efficacy and safety as a part of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy in Russian patients. Materials and methods. A search for original studies was conducted in the electronic database of the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) on the Scientific Electronic Library (SEL Elibrary.ru). Google (Google.com) was used for the "grey" search. All Russian controlled studies comparing the efficacy and/or safety of Rebamipide as a part of the regimen of H. pylori eradication therapy were included in the final analysis. Results. In 6 included controlled trials with a cumulative population (considering double comparisons between multiple groups) of 531 patients (273 in Rebamipide groups and 258 in groups without Rebamipide), the pooled eradication effectiveness was 90.376% (95% confidence interval CI 86.31193.560) in patients receiving Rebamipide and 81.681% (95% CI 76.49986.141) in patients receiving eradication regimens without Rebamipide. The meta-analysis showed that the Rebamipide addition to eradication regimens significantly improved efficacy (odds ratio 2.162, 95% CI 1.2683.685; p=0.005). No significant heterogeneity was found between study results (p=0.863; I2=0.00%); therefore, a fixed effects model was used in the resulting analysis. In addition, the meta-analysis of included studies showed a reduction of adverse events (odds ratio 0.569, 95% CI 0.3330.970) in the groups receiving Rebamipide; p=0.038). This effect of Rebamipide deserves special attention and requires additional study, as the result was at the border of statistical significance in the subanalysis of three studies with a large margin of risk reduction in one of them (with the largest sample of patients). Conclusion. The present meta-analysis demonstrated that the Rebamipide addition to H. pylori eradication regimens significantly improves the treatment effectiveness in the Russian patient population.