Hamed Zandian, Telma Zahirian Moghadam, Farhad Pourfarzi, Reza Malekzadeh, Satar Rezaei, Sevda Ghorbani

Gastric troubles in Iran: The role of social and economic factors in Helicobacter pylori infection

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Education
  • Health (social science)
Save to CiteDrive Show PDF

Background: Helicobacter pylori infection is a major risk factor for gastric cancer in Iran, but the impact of socioeconomic factors on its prevalence is poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the socioeconomic inequalities and risk factors associated with H. pylori infection in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted based on the PERSIAN cohort study. A total of 20460 individuals aged 35 to 70 years in Ardabil, Iran were included in the study. H. pylori infection was determined based on stool tests and clinical records. Multilevel logistic regression models with random intercepts at household and community levels were used to identify risk factors associated with H. pylori prevalence. The concentration index (CIn) and concentration curve (CC) were employed to assess socioeconomic-related inequality. Results: In this study, 70.4% (CI 69.6–71.0) of the participants were infected with H. pylori, with a higher prevalence in women (71.2%) than men (69.6%). Age (OR: 1.37, CI: 1.17-1.61), sex (OR: 1.20, CI: 1.12-1.28), level of education (OR: 1.33, CI: 1.17-1.49), cardiac disease (OR: 1.32, CI:1.18-1.46), and BMI groups (OR: 2.49, CI: 1.11-5.58) were significantly associated with H. pylori infection based on the multivariable logistic regression. The results of the CIn and CC indicated that H. pylori were more prevalent among economically disadvantaged groups (CIn: -0.1065; [-0.1374 to -0.0755]). Conclusion: The prevalence of H. pylori in Iran is higher than in other developing countries, and significant socioeconomic inequality exists between the poor and the rich. To reduce the rate of gastric cancer, socio-economic and demographic factors, especially the poor and people with low levels of education, should be considered.

Need a simple solution for managing your BibTeX entries? Explore CiteDrive!

  • Web-based, modern reference management
  • Collaborate and share with fellow researchers
  • Integration with Overleaf
  • Comprehensive BibTeX/BibLaTeX support
  • Save articles and websites directly from your browser
  • Search for new articles from a database of tens of millions of references
Try out CiteDrive

More from our Archive