Helicobacter pylori infection in haemodialysis patients and renal transplant recipients

Background. It is known that Helicobacterpylori (Hp) plays an important role in gastritis and pepticulcer disease in the general population. Although dyspeptic complaints arefrequent in haemodialysis (HD) patients and renal transplant recipients,there are few reports regarding the prevalence of Hp and its possibleeffects on this group of patients. This study was performed to examine theprevalence of Hp infection in patients on regular HD treatment and todetect its role in the pathogenesis of dyspepsia in this group of patients.Methods. Two hundred and one patients with dyspepticcomplaints were included in the study. The groups consisted of 47 HD, 54renal transplant recipients, and 100 non-renal disease patients. Uppergastrointestinal endoscopies were performed and gastric antral biopsieswere obtained for urease test in all patients.Results. Twenty-eight (60%) of the 47 HD and 28 (70%)of the 54 RTR were positive for Hp. Sixty-four (64%) of the 100 patientswith various gastrointestinal complaints and known to have no renaldysfunction were positive for Hp. The Hp prevalences among the three groupswere not significantly different (P <0.05). The prevalence of Hpinfection did not correlate with the haemodialysis duration nor thepost-transplantation duration (P <0.05). There was no correlationbetween the prevalence of Hp infection and duration of haemodialysistherapy or time post-transplantation. Conclusion.These findings suggest that HD patients are not protected against Hpinfection as the Hp prevalences are as high as that for the non-renaldisease group. The increased dyspeptic complaints may be partly related toHp infection.