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Table 3 Factors related to primary-care physicians’ referrals of adults for H. pylori infection testing

From: Physicians’ adherence to management guidelines for H. pylori infection and gastroesophageal reflux disease: a cross-sectional study

 

Clinical characteristics of the patients referred for testing

Type of testing

Suspected duodenal or gastric ulcer

First-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients

Unexplained IDA

History of peptic disease, before long-term use of NSAIDs

UBT/stool antigen EIA in test-and-treat strategy

Endoscopy/specialist-alarm symptoms

Yes

No

P

Yes

No

P

Yes

No

P

Yes

No

P

Yes

No

P

Yes

No

P

Number

146

25

 

78

93

 

102

69

 

76

95

 

136

27

 

160

8

 

Age, mean (SD)

52.6 (12.3)

59.2 (8.2)

0.02

55.0 (10.4)

52.4 (13.1)

0.3

52.7 (11.9)

54.8 (12.1)

0.2

53.3 (12.6)

53.8 (11.6)

0.8

52.5 (12.4)

58.2 (9.0)

0.04

53.9 (12.0)

52.0 (10.9)

0.6

Years since board certification, mean (SD)

19.2 (12.5)

24.1 (10.3)

0.1

19.7 (11.6)

20.0 (13.1)

0.7

18.0 (12.7)

22.8 (11.1)

0.02

19.9 (12.4)

19.9 (12.3)

0.9

18.5 (12.2)

5.4 (12.3)

0.006

19.6 (12.3)

24.3 (12.8)

0.3

Started to work at MHS 2010 onward, n (%)

62 (43)

5 (20)

0.03

28 (36)

39 (42)

0.4

47 (46)

20 (29)

0.03

30 (40)

37 (39)

0.9

56 (41)

6 (22)

0.06

58 (38)

2 (33)

0.8

H. pylori is a definitive cause of gastric cancer, n (%)

124 (84)

20 (77)

0.3

72 (91)

72 (77)

0.01

88 (86)

56 (79)

0.2

68 (84)

76 (83)

0.8

116 (84)

27 (80)

0.5

136 (85)

4 (50)

0.03

  1. EIA: enzyme immunoassay; IDA: iron deficiency anemia; MHS: Maccabi Healthcare Services; NSAIDs: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs UBT: urea breath test; SD: standard deviation