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Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of acute coronary syndrome: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

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Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection (HPI) imposes substantial social costs and is of major etiological importance in peptic ulcer disease, gastric cancer, and accelerated cardiovascular diseases. This study determined the risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) associated with HPI in a nationwide retrospective cohort study. By using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), we identified patients diagnosed with HPI from 1998 to 2010. In addition, we randomly selected non-HPI controls frequency-matched by age, sex, and index year from the general population free of HPI. The risk of ACS was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression models in which sex, age, and comorbidities were included as variables. We identified 17,075 participants for the HPI group and selected 68,300 participants for the comparison group. The incidence rates were increased in the patients in the HPI group compared with those in the comparison group. Overall, the HPI patients exhibited a 1.93-fold high crude hazard ratio for ACS, and a 1.48-fold adjusted hazard ratio after age, sex, and comorbidities were adjusted. However, the overall adjusted hazard ratio of ACS increased with increasing age with a 3.11 to 8.24 adjusted hazard ratio among the various age groups. Several comorbidities, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and COPD exhibited synergistic effects for ACS risk. We determined a significant association between ACS and comorbidities and provide evidence to encourage clinicians to observe ACS-related comorbidities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the China Medical University (CMU102-BC-2), Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence (MOHW103-TDU-B-212-113002), Health and Welfare Surcharge of Tobacco Products, and the China Medical University Hospital Cancer Research Center of Excellence (MOHW103-TD-B-111-03, Taiwan). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    C.-Y. Lai

  2. Molecular and Genomic Epidemiology Center, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    T.-Y. Yang

  3. Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua City, Taiwan

    T.-Y. Yang

  4. Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    C.-L. Lin

  5. College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    C.-L. Lin

  6. Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    C.-H. Kao

  7. Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, No. 2, Yuh-Der Road, Taichung, 404, Taiwan

    C.-H. Kao

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  1. C.-Y. Lai
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  2. T.-Y. Yang
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  3. C.-L. Lin
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  4. C.-H. Kao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C.-H. Kao.

Additional information

Ching-Yuan Lai and Tse-Yen Yang contributed equally to this study.

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Lai, CY., Yang, TY., Lin, CL. et al. Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of acute coronary syndrome: a nationwide retrospective cohort study. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 34, 69–74 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2207-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2207-7

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