FREQUENCY OF ANEMIA IN PATIENTS WITH HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION PRESENTING TO TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objectives: To determine the frequency of anaemia in patients presenting with Helicobacter pylori gastritis at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi. Material and methods: This descriptive cross sectional study has been conducted in General Medicine ward Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, with six months duration. All the patients with H pylori gastritis diagnosed on biopsy, age between 18-65 years, duration of symptoms of more than 6 months as (epigastric pain, epigastric burning, abdominal bloating, nausea, vomiting and confirmed on biopsy as H pylori gastritis), willing to participate in the study either gender were included in the study. For the evaluation of anaemia the laboratory investigations were advised complete blood count and serum iron profile. Selection criteria were followed strictly to control confounders. Results: A total of 115 patients presenting with helicobacter pylori gastritis at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) were enrolled in this study. The mean age of patients was 39.20±14.64 years. Males were 70 (60.9%). Mean time duration of symptoms of patients was 8.21 ± 3.66 months. The mean hemoglobin% was 12.95 ± 2.10 mg/dL, mean serum ferritin was 63.90 ± 9.02 63.90+9.02 µg/d+L, Mean of MCV was 87.53 ± 12.48. Over all frequency of anaemia in patients presenting with helicobacter pylori gastritis, was 29(25.2%). Following by iron deficiency anaemia was in 16 cases, pernicious anaemia in 7 cases, while both type of anaemia was found in 6 cases. No significant difference was found according to gender in anemia in Hpylori infected patients P- value = 0.87. Conclusion: In H pylori gastritis patients' anemia was present in one forth of cases (25%), among them commonest was iron deficiency anemia 13%. Key words: H. Pylori infection, gastritis, iron deficiency