S3194 Are We Consistently Telling Patients With Helicobacter pylori Infection to Have Their Adult Household Members Screened? A Retrospective Review

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a chronic bacterial infection which affects about 50% of the global population and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. On September 4, 2024, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) published guidelines recommending H. pylori testing for adult household members of individuals who have a positive non-serological H. pylori test. We assessed if this new recommendation is consistently provided to patients with H. pylori. Methods: We identified patients diagnosed with H. pylori based on stool test, breath test, or endoscopy biopsy at our institution from September 2024 to February 2025. We reviewed patient clinic notes, telephone notes, portal messages, and result letters to identify if patients diagnosed with H. pylori were told within 3 months of the diagnosis to advise their adult household members to get screened for H. pylori. Results: A total of 56 patients were diagnosed with H. pylori based on stool and breath tests. Of these tests, 31/56 (55.4%) were ordered by providers from primary care or other specialties. Only 3/56 (5.4%) of these patients were recommended to advise their adult household members to be screened for H. pylori. A total of 58 patients were diagnosed with H. pylori based on endoscopic biopsies. Only 11/56 (19.0%) of these patients were recommended to advise their adult household members to be screened for H. pylori. In total, only 14/114 (12.3%) patients diagnosed with H. pylori received the recommendation for adult household members to get screened. Notably, all recommendations given to patients to screen household members came from gastroenterology providers. Conclusion: Recent ACG guidelines advise screening adult household members of patients diagnosed with H. pylori. Our analysis revealed that only 12.3% of patients diagnosed with H. pylori at our institution received these recommendations to share with their adult household members. This represents a significant missed opportunity to detect additional patients at high risk of H. pylori. Furthermore, while more than half of non-endoscopic H. pylori diagnoses were made by primary care providers, none of the patients diagnosed by primary care providers received guidance on having adult household members screened. This emphasizes the importance of directing educational interventions and quality improvement efforts towards all providers ordering H. pylori tests.