Background: Potent antithrombotic therapy has improved prognosis for patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) significantly, however, at a price of increased bleeding risk. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection commonly causes upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). If systematic screening for H. pylori significantly reduces the risk of UGIB and improves outcomes is unknown. Study design: A cluster randomized, cross-over, registry-based clinical trial using nationwide Swedish registries for study population definition and data collection. Population: Patients discharged alive after hospitalization for acute type 1 MI at up to 40 hospitals across Sweden. Regional PCI networks comprise 18 clusters. Clusters will be randomized to routine H. pylori screening or no screening for 1 year after which cross-over to the opposite strategy occurs for 1 year. The study ends after one additional year of registry-based follow-up, one year after the end of the second period. Intervention: All MI patients will routinely be offered screening for H. pylori by urea breath test. Controls: Standard clinical practice. Data will be collected from SWEDEHEART and national registries. For patients testing H. pylori positive, eradication therapy will be prescribed at the caring physician's discretion. The individual implementation of H. pylori screening, test result and eradication therapy prescription will be recorded in SWEDEHEART. All follow-up data is collected from SWEDEHEART and national registries. Outcome: Primary outcome is UGIB defined as hospitalization or an outpatient visit in specialized care with ICD codes corresponding to UGIB. The secondary endpoints (in hierarchical) order: 1. Net Adverse Clinical Events (NACE): All-cause death, UGIB, hospitalization for MI, or hospitalization for ischemic stroke. 2. Major Adverse Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Events (MACCE): CV death, hospitalization for MI, or hospitalization for ischemic stroke. 3. All-cause death. 4. CV death. 5. Hospitalization for MI. 6. Hospitalization for stroke. 7. Hospitalization for HF. 8. UGIB requiring blood transfusion.
Age range
18 Years
Sex
ALL
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Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB)
Timeframe: Time from discharge date of index MI hospitalization to the end of study follow-up, January 17, 2025 (corresponds to a maximum follow-up time of 3 years and 2 months, and minimum of 1 year).