Antibiotic Resistance Prevalence and Trends in Patients Infected with Helicobacter pylori in the Period 2013-2020: Results of the European Registry on H. pylori Management (Hp-EuReg)

Luis Bujanda  1 , Olga P Nyssen  2 , Dino Vaira  3 , Ilaria M Saracino  3 , Giulia Fiorini  3 , Frode Lerang  4 , Sotirios Georgopoulos  5 , Bojan Tepes  6 , Frederic Heluwaert  7 , Antonio Gasbarrini  8 , Theodore Rokkas  9 , Dmitry Bordin  10   11   12 , Sinead Smith  13 , Vincent Lamy  14 , María Caldas  2 , Elena Resina  2 , Raquel Muñoz  2 , Ángel Cosme  1 , Ignasi Puig  15 , Francis Megraud  16 , Colm O'Morain  13 , Javier P Gisbert  2 , The Hp-EuReg Investigators
Antibiotics (Basel). 2021 Sep 1;10(9):1058.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10091058.

Abstract

Background: Bacterial antibiotic resistance changes over time depending on multiple factors; therefore, it is essential to monitor the susceptibility trends to reduce the resistance impact on the effectiveness of various treatments. Objective: To conduct a time-trend analysis of Helicobacter pylori resistance to antibiotics in Europe. Methods: The international prospective European Registry on Helicobacter pylori Management (Hp-EuReg) collected data on all infected adult patients diagnosed with culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing positive results that were registered at AEG-REDCap e-CRF until December 2020. Results: Overall, 41,562 patients were included in the Hp-EuReg. Culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed on gastric biopsies of 3974 (9.5%) patients, of whom 2852 (7%) were naive cases included for analysis. The number of positive cultures decreased by 35% from the period 2013-2016 to 2017-2020. Concerning naïve patients, no antibiotic resistance was found in 48% of the cases. The most frequent resistances were reported against metronidazole (30%), clarithromycin (25%), and levofloxacin (20%), whereas resistances to tetracycline and amoxicillin were below 1%. Dual and triple resistances were found in 13% and 6% of the cases, respectively. A decrease (p < 0.001) in the metronidazole resistance rate was observed between the 2013-2016 (33%) and 2017-2020 (24%) periods. Conclusion: Culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Helicobacter pylori are scarcely performed (<10%) in Europe. In naïve patients, Helicobacter pylori resistance to clarithromycin remained above 15% throughout the period 2013-2020 and resistance to levofloxacin, as well as dual or triple resistances, were high. A progressive decrease in metronidazole resistance was observed.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; amoxicillin; antibiotic resistance; clarithromycin; levofloxacin; metronidazole; tetracycline.