Efficacy of a therapeutic strategy for eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection

Table 2 Characteristics of patients who underwent urea breath test after treatment (%)

Patients characteristics	UBT after first-line therapy (2428 patients)	UBT after second-line therapy (326 patients)	UBT after third-line therapy (19 patients)
Women	1403 (58)	202 (62)	13 (68)
Men	1025 (42)	124 (38)	6 (32)
Mean age (range), yr	55 (18-92)	54 (21-86)	53 (27-80)
Peptic ulcer disease	202 (8.2)1	23 (7.1)	0
Previous gastric surgery and/or neoplasm	6 (0.2)2	3 (0.9)	0
Smokers	424/1082 (43.8)	59/287 (20.6)	3/17 (7.6)

¹172 and 23 patients were found to be affected respectively by duodenal and gastric ulcer. 7 patients were affected by both gastric and duodenal ulcer;

²1 patient was affected by low-grade mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. Among the patients with a history of previous gastric surgery, 1 patient had undergone surgery for cancer, the others for peptic ulcer disease. UBT: Urea breath test.