Risk factors and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in five largest islands of Indonesia: A preliminary study

• Main Authors: Ari Fahrial Syam, Muhammad Miftahussurur, Dadang Makmun, Iswan Abbas Nusi, Lukman Hakim Zain, Zulkhair, Fardah Akil, Willi Brodus Uswan, David Simanjuntak, Tomohisa Uchida, Pangestu Adi, Amanda Pitarini Utari, Yudith Annisa Ayu Rezkitha, Phawinee Subsomwong, Nasronudin, Rumiko Suzuki, Yoshio Yamaoka
• Format: Article PeerReviewed
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science 2015
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); R735-854 Medical education. Medical schools. Research
• Online Access: http://repository.unair.ac.id/94616/1/Miftah-Risk%20Factors%20and%20Prevalence%20of%20Helicobacter.PDF; http://repository.unair.ac.id/94616/; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0140186&type=printable
• Institution: Universitas Airlangga

The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Indonesia is still controversial and mainly investigated in the largest ethnic group, Javanese. We examined the prevalence of H. pylori infection using four different tests including culture, histology confirmed by immunohistochemistry and rapid urease test. We also analyzed risk factors associated with H. pylori infection in five largest islands in Indonesia. From January 2014-February 2015 we consecutively recruited a total of 267 patients with dyspeptic symptoms in Java, Papua, Sulawesi, Borneo and Sumatera Island. Overall, the prevalence of H. pylori infection was 22.1(59/267). Papuan, Batak and Buginese ethnics had higher risk for H. pylori infection than Javanese, Dayak and Chinese ethnics (OR = 30.57, 6.31, 4.95; OR = 28.39, 5.81, 4.61 and OR = 23.23, 4.76, 3.77, respectively, P <0.05). The sensitivity and specificity for RUT and culture were 90.2, 92.9and 80.5, 98.2, respectively. The patients aged 50-59 years group had significantly higher H. pylori infection than 30-39 years group (OR 2.98, P = 0.05). Protestant had significantly higher H. pylori infection rate than that among Catholic (OR 4.42, P = 0.008). It was also significantly lower among peoples who used tap water as source of drinking water than from Wells/river (OR 9.67, P = 0.03). However only ethnics as become independent risk factors for H. pylori infection. Although we confirmed low prevalence of H. pylori in Javanese; predominant ethnic in Indonesia, several ethnic groups had higher risk of H. pylori infection. The age, religion and water source may implicate as a risk factor for H. pylori infection in Indonesia. © 2015 Syam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.