RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and the development of chronic urticaria. METHODS: Published case-control studies which concerned HP infection related chronic urticaria were searched in Wanfang, CNKI, CQVIP Chinese databanks and PubMed. Meta-analysis was applied to analyze the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: 37 studies which comprised 2 909 cases of chronic urticaria and 1 873 persons served as controls were enrolled. When compared with the controls, HP infection significantly increased the risk of chronic urticaria development with a pooled OR of 3.20 (95% CI: 2.31-4.43). Results from Meta-regression analyses showed that the distribution of residential areas and detection method being used were potential influential factors. CONCLUSION: HP infection seemed to be associated with an increased risk of developing the chronic urticaria.