Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in epilepsy patients in a teaching hospital in Malaysia
- Author:
Megat Razeem Abdul Razak
;
Hui Jan Tan
;
Hamizah Razlan
;
Norlinah Mohamed Ibrahim
;
Rosnah Sutan
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:Neurology Asia
2012;17(4):293-296
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background & Objective: Helicobacter pylori infection has been associated with extradigestive diseases
including epilepsy. The main aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of Helicobacter
pylori using 13C urea breath test (UBT) in epilepsy patients in a teaching hospital in Malaysia and
compared to control. Methods: The study subjects were epilepsy patients from the neurology clinic
in a teaching hospital. The study was conducted from August 2010 to February 2011. The control
consisted of healthy individuals matched for age and gender, not on any acid suppression medications
and antibiotics. All subjects underwent UBT as per protocol. Variables such as age, race, household
income, types of epilepsy, duration of epilepsy, number of antiepileptic drugs, prognosis were analysed.
Good prognosis was defi ned as seizure free for 3 years. Results: Forty eight epilepsy patients and 47
control subjects were studied. Prevalence of H. pylori infection in the epilepsy patients was 37.5%
(n=18) and was 36.2% (n=17) in control. There were signifi cantly more subjects in the epilepsy
group with lower income. There were also more smokers in the epilepsy group but there was no
association between smoking and positive UBT. Epilepsy patients with poor prognosis have a higher
UBT positive rate compared to the good prognosis group (64.3% vs 35.7 %). However the difference
was not statistically signifi cant.
Conclusion: The prevalence of H. pylori infection in epilepsy patients is similar to that of the control
in this study involving Malaysian subjects.
- Full text:P020150710496220330686.pdf
