THURSDAY, March 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), those with _Helicobacter pylori_ infection have significantly lower rates of symptom rebound and rebound severity after bacterial eradication and proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy, according to a study published online Feb. 26 in _Helicobacter_.
Kai-Yu Hu, from the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, and colleagues recruited patients with typical reflux symptoms and reflux esophagitis on esophagogastroduodenoscopy to examine the effect of _H. pylori_ eradication on the rebound of reflux-related symptoms. Patients who were positive for _H. pylori_ were randomly assigned to receive bacterial eradication with triple therapy for two weeks before or after four weeks of PPI therapy.
Two hundred forty-eight patients were enrolled; 43.1 percent tested positive for _H. pylori_. The researchers found significant symptom improvement over the entire treatment for all patients with and without concurrent _H. pylori_ infection. Compared with those without, patients with _H. pylori_ infection had significantly lower rates of symptom rebound (19.8 versus 34.2 percent) and rebound severity (1.8 ± 0.7 versus 2.8 ± 1.6) four weeks after eradication and PPI treatment. No significant difference was seen between the early and late eradication groups in terms of incidence rates of symptom rebound and successful eradication rates.
"The present study demonstrates that GERD patients without _H. pylori_ infection were more vulnerable to experiencing rebound of reflux-related symptoms after PPI discontinuation," the authors write.
[Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/hel.70023)