Background: We recently demonstrated in humans that the extent of low-dose aspirin (LDA)-induced gastropathy was directly related to the individual gastric acid secretion level. We also established reliable cutoff serum pepsinogen (PG) values to predict gastric acid secretion status. In this study, we investigated the clinical usefulness of measuring the serum pepsinogen values for identifying a high-risk group for gastric mucosal injury among chronic LDA users.
Methods: One hundred long-term LDA users were enrolled in this analysis. Serum from each subject was subjected to determination of H. pylori status and measurement of pepsinogen values. According to our recent report, a PG I value ≥ 50 ng/mL was defined as estimated hyperchlorhydria in H. pylori-negative subjects, while a PG I/II ≥ 3.3 was defined as estimated hyperchlorhydria in H. pylori-positive subjects. The grade of gastric mucosal injury was assessed endoscopically, and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk.
Results: Estimated hyperchlorhydria was a strong independent risk for intensive gastric mucosal injury with an OR (95% CI): 34.0 (4.5-259) and for gastric ulcer with an OR (95% CI): 10.2 (1.8-58.3) in H. pylori-positive subjects, while it was not a significant risk in H. pylori-negative subjects. The association persisted even after excluding those with conventional risks for LDA-gastropathy such as ulcer histories.
Conclusion: Using simple serum measurement of H. pylori antibody and pepsinogen concentrations, an extremely high-risk group for LDA-induced gastropathy could be extracted, and these patients should become a therapeutic target for prevention of LDA-induced gastropathy.