Helicobacter pylori in metabolic related diseases

Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common gastrointestinal infection affecting humans worldwide. Hp colonizes the stomach with preferential trophism for the antrum. Hp infection is associated with the development of a chronic gastritis and subsequently with several gastric diseases such as peptic disease, gastric carcinoma and MALT lymphoma. Moreover, Helicobacter pylori infection has also been reported in literature to be associated with many other extra-gastric conditions including sideropenic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neurological, liver and cardiovascular diseases. For some conditions the association is supported by solid literature data and also by the identification of the possible physiopathogenetic mechanism involved. In other cases, the link is only reported by association studies often with conflicting results. In this context, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders and liver steatosis have all been reported to be associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. Interestingly, these conditions share many characteristics and they often overlap as they represent the expression of the so called metabolic syndrome. Aim of the review was to summarize the available data regarding the association between Helicobacter Pylori infection and diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders and liver steatosis.