The assessment of probable relationship between lung cancer and Helicobacter pylori infection.

ABSTRACT

Background: Many sero-epidemiological and case-control studies suggest that H.pylori infection may be associated with the development of lung cancer. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between lung cancer and Helicobacter pylori infection. Methods: 66 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed, primary lung cancer and 66 controls were enrolled in this study. All enrolled subject underwent an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) IgG serologic test for H. pylori diagnosis. Results: The study included 66 histologically verified lung carcinoma (53 men and 13 women) with the median age of 59 years (range 30 to 87 years) and 66 controls (50 men and 16 women) with the median age of 58 years (range 27 to 88 years). The prevalence of H.pylori seropositivity was 73% (48/66) in lung cancer but only 51% (34/66) in controls. The odds ratio for the association of H.pylori and lung cancer was 2.51 (95% CI 1.14 – 5.54, P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of our study show that the population of patients with lung cancer has a significantly higher rate of seropositivity for antibodies against H.pylori than the population of subjects without lung cancer.