NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Eradication rates of Helicobacter pylori in children are higher with sequential therapy compared with standard triple therapy, a Polish team reports in the Journal of Pediatrics online March 4.

Dr. Hania Szajewska and colleagues at the Medical University of Warsaw explain that several studies have shown sequential therapy to be superior to triple therapy for eradication of H. pylori, but only a few non-blinded studies have included children.

They therefore compared the two approaches in a double-blind trial involving 107 children with confirmed H. pylori infection. The patients were randomized to receive sequential treatment with amoxicillin and omeprazole for 5 days followed by clarithromycin, tinidazole, and omeprazole for 5 days, or a 7-day standard triple regimen of amoxicillin and clarithromycin plus omeprazole, followed by placebo for 3 days to maintain blinding.

The rate of H. pylori eradication was significantly higher at 86.5% among children in the sequential group compared with 68.6% in the standard group, the researchers found.

There was no discontinuation of treatment in either arm, and adverse effects were no different between the two groups, according to the report.