Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2015; 21(15): 4750-4756
Published online Apr 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i15.4750
Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease in Asians: A meta-analysis
Xiao-Wei Wu, Hong-Zan Ji, Miao-Fang Yang, Lin Wu, Fang-Yu Wang
Xiao-Wei Wu, Hong-Zan Ji, Miao-Fang Yang, Lin Wu, Fang-Yu Wang, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Wu XW and Wang FY conceived of and designed the study; Wu XW and Ji HZ developed the methodology; Wu XW, Ji HZ, Yang MF, Wu L and Wang FY collected, analyzed, and interpreted the data; Wu XW and Wang FY wrote the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81270453.
Conflict-of-interest: There are no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Fang-Yu Wang, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, 305 Zhongshan East Road, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China. wangfangyu2014@126.com
Telephone: +86-25-80860051 Fax: +86-25-80860151
Received: August 12, 2014
Peer-review started: August 12, 2014
First decision: October 14, 2014
Revised: November 5, 2014
Accepted: January 5, 2015
Article in press: January 5, 2015
Published online: April 21, 2015
Processing time: 250 Days and 23.8 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in an Asian population.

METHODS: The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for observational studies published up until June 2014, without language restrictions. Additional references were obtained from reviewed articles.

RESULTS: Ten studies involving 1299 IBD patients and 1817 controls were included in the meta-analysis (24.9% of IBD patients had H. pylori infection vs 48.3% of the controls). The pooled risk ratio for H. pylori infection in IBD patients compared with controls was 0.48 (95%CI: 0.43-0.54; P < 0.001). There was no significant heterogeneity in the included studies (I2 = 21%). Egger’s linear regression indicated that there was no significant publication bias (P = 0.203).

CONCLUSION: The H. pylori infection rate in Asian IBD patients is significantly lower than in non-IBD patients, indicating that infection protects against the development of IBD.

Keywords: Asian population; Crohn’s disease; Helicobacter pylori; Inflammatory bowel disease; Meta-analysis; Ulcerative colitis

Core tip: A meta-analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in an Asian population. A search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases identified ten studies involving 1299 IBD patients and 1817 controls that were included in the meta-analysis (24.9% of IBD patients had H. pylori infection vs 48.3% of the controls). This meta-analysis showed that in an Asian population, the H. pylori infection rate was significantly lower in IBD patients than in non-IBD patients, indicating a protective effect of H. pylori infection against IBD.