Helicobacter pylori eradication in duodenal ulcer disease is cost-beneficial: a Belgian model

The eradication of Helicobacter pylori in infected patients with gastroduodenal ulcer disease the allows to obtain a definite healing of this chronically relapsing condition for which the direct costs have been steadily increasing (while indirect costs were reduced) for the last two decades. Both short-term studies performed on real time, and prospective simulations using a Markov's model over periods of one, five and up to fifteen years, revealed a significant cost/benefit advantage of an eradication policy: according to the Belgian model, the eradication of HP in patients with peptic ulcer would save between 750,000 and one million US dollars by million inhabitants when compared to maintenance or episodic treatment with anti-secretory drugs. Nevertheless, models are very sensitive to several factors: eradication rate, costs of screening and HP status assessment, frequency of peptic ulcer disease.