As per the findings of a retrospective case-control study, the elderly does not have an impact on the safety or efficacy of a standard clarithromycin-based triple therapy for the management of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Since the impact of age on the success of H. pylori therapy is not clear, this study was performed to investigate the efficacy of H. pylori elimination therapy in elderly people.

The study incorporated 361 naïve people (194 males with a mean age of 79.8± 3.4 years) aged more than 65 years. Participants were administered a triple therapy regimen [a standard dose of omeprazole twice daily, 1g amoxicillin twice daily, and 500 mg clarithromycin twice daily for 7, 10 or 14 days] and were comparatively evaluated with naïve people (mean age of 43± 2.7 years) who were aged less than 65 years of age.

The H. pylori elimination rate in the intention-to-treat (ITT) assessment and the per-protocol (PP) assessment is shown in table 1 below:

No profound differences were noted in the H. pylori elimination in elderly people within 7-day, 10-day and 14-day regimens as shown in table 2 below:

Out of 361 elderly people, 11 were eliminated from the PP assessment due to discontinuations (7 for adverse events). Among young participants, 1 participant discontinued therapy. Also, the PP assessment illustrated no statistical difference. Thus, age does not significantly influence the success of H. pylori therapy.