Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the IBM SPSS 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) statistical package program. Descriptive statistics for studied variables (characteristics) were presented as mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values, and for categorical variables the frequency is expressed as a percentage [n (%)]. For determining the relationship between groups and categorical variables, the Chi–square test was used. In order to compare H. pylori –positive and H. pylori –negative groups for demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics, the Man–Whitney U test were performed. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.