The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in obese subjects

Obesity and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are important because of the problems they lead and their frequency of occurrence. In this study, we aimed to find out the prevalence of H. pylori infection and the relationship between obesity and H. pylori in obese and normal weight subjects.

A total of 214 subjects were (103 obese (71 male, 32 female), and 111 control (60 male, 51 female)) admitted to the study. Body mass indices (BMI) of all subjects were calculated and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), blood lipids and H. pylori positivity were studied.

The mean age of the obese and control groups was (24.3+/-5.4 yr), and (25.5+/-5.4 yr), and the mean BMI was (34.6+/-3.7 kg/m(2)), and (24.2+/-2.8 kg/m(2)) respectively. We didn't observe a significant difference between FPG, Total-C, and LDL-C levels of the obese and control groups, however there was a difference between gastrointestinal symptoms, sistolic and diastolic BP, TG and HDL-C levels. H. pylori prevalence was determined at 57.2% (59/103) in obese group and 27.0% (30/111) in control group (odds ratio=2.11; 95% CI, 1.49-3.00; p<0.001) and 41.5% (89/214) in all study population.

In our study, we determined that prevalence of H. pylori increased in subjects with obesity. We consider that obesity can be a risk factor for H. pylori infection. However, further studies evaluating more subjects are required.