HELICOBACTER PYLORI: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCES AMONG PATIENTS
IOANA MACADAN 1, RĂZVAN NICOLAE RUSU 1*, DANIELA CARMEN ABABEI 1 , ALEXANDRU VASINCU 1, OANA DANA ARCAN 1, DELIA BULEA 1, VERONICA BILD 1,2
1 Pharmacodynamics and Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași, Romania
2 ”Olga Necrasov” Centre for Anthropological and Biomedical Research, Romanian Academy, Iași Branch, Romania
Download Full Article PDF
Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacterium that can cause chronic gastritis, gastro-duodenal ulcer, gastric cancer, or MALT lymphoma. Despite its declining prevalence, nearly half of the world's population is still infected. Seventy adult patients from Iași completed a questionnaire assessing their knowledge of H. pylori, attitudes toward testing and eradication and personal experience. A high proportion (65.71%) of respondents reported having heard of H. pylori. Basic knowledge varied significantly by place of origin (p = 0.034), consumption of preserved foods (p = 0.001), prior H. pylori testing (p < 0.001) and history of infection (p < 0.001) (Mann-Whitney U test). Most respondents (71.43%) had never been tested for H. pylori. Of those tested, 20.00% reported prior H. pylori infection, and 8.57% could not recall the test result. The study found low levels of knowledge about H. pylori among certain respondent groups, yet a high proportion of respondents supported preventive testing.
