Helicobacter pylori active infection in patients with acute coronary heart disease

Aceti, Antonio; Are, Riccardo; Sabino, Giuseppe; Fenu, Luisa; Pasquazzi, Caterina; Quaranta, Giorgio; Zechini, Barbara; Terrosu, Pierfranco

doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2004.01.011

« Previous Next »Journal of Infection
Volume 49, Issue 1 , Pages 8-12, July 2004

Helicobacter pylori active infection in patients with acute coronary heart disease

Antonio Aceti
- Department of Infectious Diseases, II Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-6-80345817; fax: +39-6-80345001
Riccardo Are
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, University of Sassari, Via Manno 54, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Giuseppe Sabino
- Division of Cardiology, Intensive Care Unit—SS. Annunziata Hospital, Via De Nicola 14, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Luisa Fenu
- Institute of Infectious Diseases, University of Sassari, Via Manno 54, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Caterina Pasquazzi
- Department of Infectious Diseases, II Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Giorgio Quaranta
- Department of Infectious Diseases, II Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Barbara Zechini
- Department of Infectious Diseases, II Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
Pierfranco Terrosu
- Division of Cardiology, Intensive Care Unit—SS. Annunziata Hospital, Via De Nicola 14, 07100 Sassari, Italy

Accepted 22 January 2004.

Abstract

Objectives. To evaluate the possible role of the active Helicobacter pylori infection as a trigger factor in acute coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods. Forty patients with acute coronary syndromes, 40 patients with infections other than H. pylori (control group A) and 40 healthy subjects (control group B), pair matched for age, sex and CHD risk factors were studied. In each patient and control subject the presence of H. pylori stool antigen (HpsA) and serum anti-CagA were tested.

Results. Twenty-eight of patients with CHD resulted positive for HpSA compared to 14 patients of control group A and 16 subjects of group B (p=0.00095). No significant difference was found in the anti-CagA positivity among patients with CHD and control groups. Concomitant positivity for anti-CagA and HpSA was found in 13 patients with CHD, four controls of group A and five controls of group B (p=0.017).

Conclusions. Our findings revealed a higher rate of HpSA positivity and a significantly higher association between HpSA and anti-CagA positivity in patients with acute CHD compared to control groups. These data suggest that active H. pylori infection may play a role as a trigger factor in acute cardiovascular events.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Acute coronary syndromes, Infection/inflammation, Plaque rupture