Background: Some studies have suggested that Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) infection was associated with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, which may increase the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). But there is no conclusive evidence regarding the association between H. Pylori infection and CKD. To help clarify this, we conducted the cross-sectional study to investigate the association of H. pylori infection with CKD among Chinese adults.
Methods: A total of 22,044 adults aged 48.6 ± 14.3 years were enrolled. H. pylori-specific immunoglobulin G antibody titers were measured by ELISA. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 or presence of proteinuria (urine protein ≥ 1+) assessed using a repeated dipstick method.
Results: Among all participants in this study, the prevalence of H. Pylori infection was 20.6%. As a categorical outcome, the prevalence of decreased eGFR in the H. Pylori infection group was higher than in the non-H. Pylori infection group (1.6 vs. 1.2%, P = 0.04), but the prevalence of proteinuria and the overall CKD were not significantly different between these two groups (1.7 vs. 1.6%, P = 0.65 and 3.0 vs. 2.7%, P = 0.2). After adjusted for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, body mass index, uric acid, smoking, drinking, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the odds of decreased eGFR and proteinuria were not significantly different between the H. Pylori positive and negative subjects.
Conclusions: This study did not find an association between H. Pylori infection and CKD.
Keywords: Chronic kidney disease; EGFR; Epidemiology; Helicobacter pylori; Proteinuria.