| Summary: | OBJECTIVE: Prevalence of H. pylori infection varies widely between and within countries. Dyspepsia is a common presentation in Family Medicine practice. Management of patients with dyspepsia depends on local prevalence of H. pylori infection. Studies on H. pylori is extensive. However, research on prevalence of H. pylori infection in Canada is limited and there was no systematic review of available data. This study reviews what is current state of knowledge on prevalence of H. pylori infection in Canada.Methodology / Design: Systematic literature review of published studies on prevalence of H. pylori infection in Canada. Data was collected by systematic literature search of publications in English in Medline and PubMed databases with no publication date limitations using MeSH “Helicobacter pylori” and “Canada” to identify relevant studies. Studies that assess prevalence of H. pylori in general population in Canada or different regions of the country, as well as in different population sub-groups were selected. Studies that do not assess prevalence or do it for countries other than Canada were excluded. Studies that meet inclusion criteria were checked for duplication of data and assessed with NHLBI assessment tool demonstrated sufficient quality. Collected data was reviewed and analysed according to population subgroups, geographic regions and used diagnostic test to determine the prevalence of H. pylori in Canada.Results: Systematic literature search identified 54 articles in Medline and 53 articles in PubMed databases. After review and removal of duplications, 12 studies met selection criteria. Data from these studies was analysed.Conclusions: Although there is a consensus that management of Dyspepsia without alarm features depends on prevalence of H pylori infection in given population, research on prevalence of H. pylori infection in Canada is limited. This systematic literature review concludes that prevalence of H. pylori infection in Canadian First Nations remains high in all age groups, and use of H. ...
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