ORIGINAL ARTICLES  CARDIAC SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2003 October;44(5):605-9

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Helicobacter pylori seropositivity in patients with unstable angina

Pellicano R. ¹, Mazzarello M. G. ², Morelloni S. ³, Ferrari M. ², Angelino P. ⁴, Berrutti M. ¹, Torriglia A. M. ², Rizzetto M. ^{1, 5}, Ponzetto A. ^{1, 5}

¹ Department of Gastro-Hepatology, Molinette Hospital, Turin, Italy 2 Clinical Laboratory, ASL 22, Ovada (AL), Italy 3 Intensive Coronary Care Unit, ASL 22, Novi Ligure (AL), Italy 4 Cardiology, Rivoli Hospital, Turin, Italy 5 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

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Aim. The path­o­gen­esis of ­ischemic ­heart dis­eases has ­been cor­re­lated, on epi­dem­i­olog­ical and pathog­e­netic ­grounds, ­with infec­tions by ­viruses and bac­teria, ­including Helic­o­bacter ­pylori (H. ­pylori). The ­aims of ­this ­study ­were to inves­ti­gate the asso­ci­a­tion of ­unstable ­angina (UA) ­with ­anti-H. ­pylori ser­o­pos­i­tivity in a ­case-con­trol ­study and to ­search for the ­classic car­di­o­vas­cular ­risk fac­tors in ­both ­infected and unin­fected ­patients.
­Methods. We ­studied 32 con­sec­u­tive ­patients (20 ­males, 12 ­females), ­mean age 65 ­years (­range 42-89), ­with ­final diag­nosis of UA. A ­total of 64 sub­jects (40 ­males, 24 ­females, ­mean age 65 ­years, ­range 42-89) ­admitted to the Emer­gency ­Care ­Unit, age and sex-­matched, ­served as con­trols. The pres­ence of hyper­ten­sion, ­serum ­levels of cho­les­terol and glu­cose, ­plasma ­levels of ­fibrinogen, ­smoking ­habit and ­social ­class ­were inves­ti­gated in all ­patients. ­Cases and con­trols ­were inhab­i­tants of North­Western ­Italy, and had sim­ilar soci­oec­o­nomic ­status as ­based on ­working ­place and on instruc­tion ­level. H. ­pylori ser­o­prev­a­lence was ­assessed by the pres­ence of anti­bodies (IgG) ­against H. ­pylori by ­means of a com­mer­cial ­enzyme immu­no­sor­bent ­assay.
­Results. Anti­bodies to H. ­pylori ­were ­found in 26/32 (81%) of the ­patients and in 34/64 (53%) of the con­trols (p=0.007); the ­odds ­ratio was 3.82 (95% con­fi­dence ­interval 1.27 to 12.04). Clas­sical car­di­o­vas­cular ­risk fac­tors, ­such as ­socio-eco­nomic ­status, did not ­differ ­among ­patients ­with and ­without anti­bodies to H. ­pylori.
Con­clu­sion. ­Patients ­with ­unstable ­angina had a sig­nif­i­cantly ­higher ser­o­prev­a­lence of ­anti-H. ­pylori ­than the con­trol pop­u­la­tion. Clas­sical ­risk fac­tors for ­ischemic ­heart dis­ease, ­such as the indi­ca­tors of ­socio-eco­nomic ­status, ­were ­equally dis­trib­uted ­among ­infected or unin­fected ­patients ­with UA.