RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Chronic inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Among the many pathogens causing chronic inflammation, Helicobacter pylori is the major pathogen for gastric diseases in Korean people. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and its association with cardiovascular risk factors in healthy Korean adults. METHODS: In 32,998 healthy subjects, the proportion of seroposive subjects for H. pylori and its association with cardiovascular risk factors were evaluated in participants in health screening program. H. pylori infection status was tested with serum IgG antibody test with ELISA and blood pressure, body mass index, serum lipid profiles, hsCRP were tested. RESULTS: 67% of participants were infected with H. pylori serologic test. Seropositivity was highest in age group of over sixty and male subjects tended to be more infected with H. pylori (p0.05). In multiple logistic regression models, adjusted by age, sex and other variables, total cholesterol was associated with H. pylori seropositivity (odds ratio 1.004, 95% confidence intervals 1.002~1.006, p<0.001) and HDL was inversely related with H. pylori independently (odds ratio 0.990, 95% confidence intervals 0.987~0.992, p<0.001). Age and sex was also positively associated with H. pylori (odds ratio for age 1.029, 95% confidence intervals 1.026~1.032, p<0.001, odds ratio for women to men 0.818, 95% confidence intervals 0.750~0.893, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this study is that H. pylori infection is prevalent in Korean adults and is independently correlated with cardiovascular risk factors such as total cholesterol and HDL in atherogenic way in healthy subjects. This may support the previous hypothesises that H. pylori might be one of the atherosclerotic pathogens.