Objective: Our aim in this study was to emphasize the increased frequency of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in the non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding patients and to draw attention to the fact that H. pylori infection is a condition, that merits substantial care.

Materials and Methods: Between January 01, 2019 and January 01, 2023, patients who were admitted to the emergency department of Fırat University with melena and hematemesis for the first time were investigated. Patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding were included in the study. The frequency of H. pylori infection was determined in patients who underwent biopsy according to Sydney protocol during endoscopy. As a control group, H. pylori infection was tested in healthy individuals without chronic disease who underwent upper endoscopy and gastric biopsies according to the Sydney protocol for dyspepsia.

Results: In 245 patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding, the main cause of the bleeding was peptic ulcer. H. pylori infection was positive in 204 (83.3%) and negative in 41 (16.7%) patients. In the control group, H. pylori infection was negative in 190 (54.4%) and positive in 159 (45.6%) patients. H. pylori positivity was significantly higher in the group with bleeding due to peptic ulcer compared to the control group (p<0.001). In the patient group, H. pylori was positive in 111 (83.45%) of 133 patients who were not using any drug and 88 (35.9%) patients were using NSAIDs including acetylsalicylic acid and 72 (81.8%) of them were positive for H. pylori.

Conclusion: H. pylori infection was positive in more than 80% of patients in both drug and non-medication groups in bleeding due to peptic ulcer. The frequency of H. pylori infection in non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding was above normal. This showed that H. pylori infection alone constituted a very high risk for non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding in our population.