查看文章

Objectives To determine whether searching for Helicobacter pylori and treating with eradication therapy leads to a reduction in incidence of gastric cancer among healthy asymptomatic infected individuals.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Data sources Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials were searched through to December 2013. Conference proceedings between 2001 and 2013 were hand searched. A recursive search was performed with bibliographies of relevant studies. There were no language restrictions.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Randomised controlled trials examining the effect of at least seven days of eradication therapy on subsequent occurrence of gastric cancer in adults who tested positive for Helicobacter pylori but otherwise healthy and asymptomatic were eligible. The control arm had to receive placebo or no …