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World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2026; 32(45): 121414
Published online Dec 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.121414
Published online Dec 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.121414
Decade of decline: Unraveling Helicobacter pylori trends in Northwest China
Zi-Qin Zeng, Hai-Yan Yang, Liu-Ying He, Ceng Sun, Jin-Hai Wang, Lei Dong, Jun Gong, Lu Li, Ping Zhao, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Lu Li and Ping Zhao.
Author contributions: Zeng ZQ wrote the manuscript; Zeng ZQ and Zhao P conceived and designed the study and analyzed the data; Yang HY, He LY, Sun C, Wang JH, Dong L, Gong J, and Li L contributed to data analysis, literature review, and manuscript revision; Li L and Zhao P played important and indispensable roles in the experimental design as co-corresponding authors; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: AI tools were used solely for linguistic refinement and formatting assistance. No AI tool was involved in the generation of research data, interpretation of results, or formulation of conclusions. All AI-generated outputs were critically reviewed and revised by the authors.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (No. 2024-134).
Informed consent statement: As a retrospective study utilizing existing clinical data, we performed no interventions on patients, collected no patient samples, and disclosed no personal information. Informed consent was waived, as this does not affect patients’ rights or health. The study protocol, including the statistical analysis plan, was reviewed and approved by the same committee that conducts integrated scientific and ethical review of all clinical studies.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to patient privacy concerns but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Ping Zhao, MD, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xincheng District, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. peggyzhao@163.com
Received: March 25, 2026
Revised: May 18, 2026
Accepted: June 25, 2026
Published online: December 7, 2026
Processing time: 204 Days and 13.3 Hours
Revised: May 18, 2026
Accepted: June 25, 2026
Published online: December 7, 2026
Processing time: 204 Days and 13.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this large-scale study, trends in Helicobacter pylori infection in northwest China over a decade were analyzed using data from 69633 outpatients. Our study identified three main findings. First, infection rates declined across all subgroups. Second, there was initially no significant difference in infection rates between the two sexes; however, infection rates among females declined faster than those among males, leading to the emergence and a progressive widening of sex disparity. Third, age and infection risk exhibited a nonlinear relationship with an inflection point. These findings provide evidence to guide targeted gastric cancer prevention strategies.