Abstract: In order to assese the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and gastroduodenal diseases in the elderly, we investigated 445 of the elderly and 2202 of the nonelderly with upper gastrointestinal symptoms,undergoing routine upper GIendoscopy.Biopsy speciments from the gastric antrum were taken to detect HP by histology (Giemsa staining) and (or) culture. It was shown that the prevalence of HPinfection not only increased from 65.1% in non-elderly group to 77.1% in elderly one,which the effect of age reach statistical significance (P<0.005), but was much higher than that of asymptomatic donor group(29%;P<0. 01). And in the elderly,the frequency of HPinfection in histologic gastritis and in gastric ulcer and the prevalence of chronic active gastritis,chronic atrophic gastritis,gastric ulcer and gastric carcinoma and intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia in gastritis were all much higher than that of the non-elderly group. We conclude that HP infection is responsible for some of gastroduodenal diseases in elderly and increases in prevalence with advancing age,suggesting a possible etiologic role for the bacterium in the histologic lesion.

Key words: the elderly, Helicobacter pylori, gastroduodenal diseases