An update of the Cochrane systematic review of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy in nonulcer dyspepsia: resolving the discrepancy between systematic reviews

OBJECTIVES: A Cochrane systematic review on the efficacy of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication therapy in nonulcer dyspepsia concluded that this intervention had a small but statistically significant effect in curing symptoms. A systematic review in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggested that there was no statistically significant effect of H. pylori eradication therapy on nonulcer dyspepsia symp-toms. We updated the Cochrane review and explored rea-sons for these discrepant results. METHODS: In our update of the Cochrane review we in-cluded randomized controlled trials evaluating H. pylori eradication in nonulcer dyspepsia published up to Septem-ber, 2002. A statistician and the lead author of two negative randomized controlled trials explored reasons for the differ-ences between the Cochrane and Annals systematic review