Comparative Study between Antigen and Antibody Tests in the Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Patients in Relation to Selected Risk Factors

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori pathogen is an organism that cause a major health problem worldwide. More than half of the world populations are infected with this pathogen. This study was conducted in Medical Military Hospital, Khartoum State between March and January 2016 to compare between antigen and antibody tests in the diagnosis of H. pylori infection among symptomatic and asymptomatic Sudanese patients. In this cross sectional study one hundred patients (n=100) were enrolled 50 symptomatic and recruits were asymptomatic. In the symptomatic group 24(48%) were males and 26(52%) were females and their ages were between 13-84 years. Asymptomatic group18(36%) were males and 32(64%) were females and their ages were between 5-70 years. Data on smoking and other demographic information were obtained by questionnaire and the ABO blood group phenotypes were determined. The stool and blood samples were collected and analyzed for antigen and antibody respectively by immunochromatography test (ICT) cards. Symptomatic and asymptomatic patients 58(58%) showed positive results for H. pylori antibody while 11(11%) showed positive results for H. pylori stool antigen. The sensitivity and specificity of stool antigen was 48% and the specificity and sensitivity of serum antibody was 47%. Smoking, blood group and age showed insignificant relationship with H. pylori infection (P>0.05). In conclusion, the frequency of H. pylori antibody was higher than the H. pylori antigen. The study showed insignificant relationship between age, blood group and smoking. Future studies should be conducted with larger sample size, wider area and advanced techniques to confirm the present results.