Sofalcone, a mucoprotective agent, increases the cure rate of Helicobacter pylori infection when combined with rabeprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin

Table 1 Patients’ characteristics.

	Group A1	Group B1	Group C1
Mean age, yr (range)	45.3 (21-73)	47.2 (27-71)	45.6 (21-71)
Male/female	41/14	42/12	42/14
Mean weight, kg (range)	60.7 (42.5-70.0)	59.8 (40.5-70.0)	58.7 (38.5-79.0)
Smokers (%)	23 (41.8)	28 (51.6)	24 (42.6)
Alcohol drinkers (%)	21 (38.1)	28 (51.6)	23 (41.1)
Gastric ulcer (%)	34 (61.8)	31 (57.4)	36 (64.3)
Duodenal ulcer (%)	19 (34.5)	21 (38.9)	19 (33.9)
Gastroduodenal ulcer (%)	2 (3.6)	2 (3.7)	1 (1.8)
Active ulcer (%)	27 (49.1)	32 (59.3)	28 (50.0)

¹Group A: triple therapy with rabeprazole (10 mg twice daily), clarithromycin (200 mg twice daily) and amoxicillin (750 mg twice daily). Group B: sofalcone (100 mg thrice daily) plus the triple therapy. Group C: polaprezinc (150 mg twice daily) plus the triple therapy. Patients received the medications for 7 d in each group.