Association of active Helicobacter pylori infection and anemia in elderly males

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases 2019-03, Vol.19 (1), p.228-228, Article 228
• Main Authors: Hou, Baicun, Zhang, Meifang, Liu, Miao, Dai, Wei, Lin, Yunjuan, Li, Yuan, Gong, Meiliang, Wang, Gangshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Anemia; Antiulcer agents; Blood tests; C-reactive protein; Care and treatment; Chronic illnesses; Clinical trials; Comorbidity; Elderly; Epidemiology; Ferritin; Geriatrics; Glycosylated hemoglobin; Health; Health aspects; Helicobacter infections; Helicobacter pylori; Hemoglobin; Hemoglobins; Hospitals; Infection; Infections; Infectious diseases; Iron; Males; Medical research; Older people; Population; Proteins; Risk factors; Studies; Urea
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-019-3849-y

The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection increases with age. However, the relationship between H. pylori infection and anemia in the elderly population remains to be identified. The aim of this study is to explore whether H. pylori infection is associated with anemia in a male elderly cohort. A cross-sectional study was designed using data collected from asymptomatic male senior citizens (≥ 65 years old) who received an assessment of their health status at the General Hospital of Chinese PLA from January 2015 to December 2015. H. pylori infection was confirmed by the C-urea breath test. Blood samples from the participants were taken to assay for hemoglobin and other erythroid-related indices - serum iron, ferritin, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Anemia was defined as hemoglobin values lower than 120.0 g/L. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was applied to establish baseline comorbidities. Data from 646 subjects were analyzed. The mean age of the study cohort was 79.4 ± 8.9 years. The overall prevalence of H. pylori infection was 35.3%. The prevalence of anemia in the H. pylori positive group was higher than that in the negative group (5.3% vs. 2.2%, P = .033). Among the patients who had higher CCI scores (> 2), the prevalence of anemia in the H. pylori positive and negative groups were 10.3 and 1.4%, respectively (P = .009). Compared to the H. pylori negative group, the odds ratio for anemia of the H. pylori positive group was 2.53 (P = .033). No correlation between H. pylori infection and serum iron and ferritin levels was found. The mean corpuscular volume of the H. pylori positive and negative group was 91.17 ± 3.94 fl and 91.17 ± 4.09 fl (mean ± SD), respectively (P = .986). The CRP level in the H. pylori positive group was higher than that in the H. pylori negative group (Median: 0.17 mg/dL vs. 0.10 mg/dL, P