Do atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia reverse after Helicobacter pylori eradication?

Background It's still controversial whether Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication can reverse atrophic gastritis (AG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM). Therefore, we performed a meta‐analysis to estimate the effect of H. pylori eradication on AG and IM. Methods We searched the PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE datasets through April 2023 for epidemiological studies, which provided mean glandular atrophy (GA) or IM score before and after H. pylori eradication, or provided ORs, RRs or HRs and 95% CIs for the association of AG or IM with H. pylori eradication. Weighted mean difference (WMD) and pooled ORs and 95%CIs were used to estimate the effect of H. pylori eradication on AG and IM. Results Twenty articles with a total of 5242 participants were included in this meta‐analysis. H. pylori eradication significantly decreased GA score in the antrum (WMD −0.36; 95% CI: −0.52, −0.19, p