Knowledge, attitude and prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection among patients aged 25 and above attending Bugiri main hospital, eastern Uganda

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection is found in half of the world’s population. Its prevalence is highly variable in relation to geography,ethnicity, age and socioeconomic factors and this makes them more susceptible to the infection. Despite of the high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Kampala and it being the commonest cause of bacterial gastro- duodenal ulcers there is lack of data on awareness and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori among patients with gastro-intestinal ulcers in Eastern Uganda. This study was purposed at searching for data that would be indicative of the knowledge, attitude and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori among patients aged 25 and above attending Bugiri General Hospital. A cross-sectional study design was done between February and March, 2020. A guided questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and attitude towards H. pylori infection was concerned and participants who did not understand English were helped in their local languages so as to avoid biased information. All the interviewed respondents had heard about ulcers but only 32.9% had heard about the germ that causes ulcers. 89.3% of the respondents did not know how the Helicobacter pylori was spread while 67.1% of the respondents knew stress as a cause of gastric ulcers and 32.9% of them did not know any of the causes of gastric ulcers. The results indicated that 62.1% of the interviewed respondents thought they could have ulcers. Majority of the respondents 79.3% thought ulcers could be cured using proper medicine while 17.9% thought otherwise. In addition, 80.7% of the respondents agreed that gastric cancer can develop as a result of not treating gastric ulcers. Blood was collected from all the 140 patients which each was analyzed serologically using H.pylori Antibody Test Strip to the general prevalence. The overall prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection among patients aged 25 years and above attending Bugiri Main Hospital was 58.6%. Females had a higher prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection compared to males and there was a positive correlation between age and Helicobacter pylori infection. Because most people in the population think they could not have H. pylori and yet when tested, they were found to carry the bacteria.it is important that more work needs to be done on education, sensitization and testing of the populations at risk in order to develop an adequate prevention strategy on H. pylori