Comparison of stool antigen assay (HpSA) and urea breath test (UBT) in detecting Helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori is spiral-shaped bacterium that grows in the digestive tract and tends to attack the stomach lining. It causes gastritis and peptic ulcers and is associated with the development of gastric cancer. Approximately 50% of the world population is infected with H. pylori with the highest prevalence rates in developing countries. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, many people need to be tested for H. pylori. The participants (104) of the study, who were mostly females (66) with age range of 15-76 years old, were from the gastrointestinal clinic and were screened using Anti-Helicobacter pylori (ELISA) IgG. Stool antigen assay was also performed, the results of which were compared with the Urea Breath Test (UBT). Using McNemar test, the results obtained between ELISA IgG and HpSA and UBT, were found to be significantly different (p=0.000), proving that the two diagnostic procedures are better than ELISA in providing accurate results. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between HpSA and UBT which shows that they are comparable. Thus, HpSA can be used as an alternative confirmatory test in detecting H. pylori.

Keywords – Helicobacter pylori, stool antigen assay, urea breath test