Gastric hyperplastic polyps inversely associated with current Helicobacter pylori infection

The incidence of gastric hyperplastic polyps (HPs) has been on the rise in recent years. The contribution of Helicobacter pylori infection to this trend has remained to be elucidated. The present study aimed to explore the association between HPs and H. pylori in China, an area with a high infection rate of H. pylori. In order to study trends of HPs and H. pylori infection over the past decades, cases encountered from 2009 to 2018 were assessed and a total of 109,150 consecutive patients who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy at Qingdao Municipal Hospital (Qingdao, China) were enrolled. The incidence of HPs and the prevalence of H. pylori were determined and their correlation was explored. Gastric HPs were detected in 1,497 patients (1.6%) who received gastric biopsies. The incidence of HPs exhibited a rising trend, with a ~4-fold increase in the annual detection rate from 2009 to 2018. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was inversely associated with the prevalence of HPs (adjusted odds ratio, 0.66). The prevalence of H. pylori in the examined cohort decreased with time (r=-0.76, P=0.011). The decreasing trend of H. pylori infection was negatively correlated with the rising trend of HPs (r=-0.64, P=0.048), further indicating an inverse association between them. The difference in the prevalence of HPs between H. pylori-negative and -positive patients increased with age (r=0.80, P=0.018). The age-associated increase was slower in H. pylori-infected patients. The decline in H. pylori infection with time appeared to not be associated with the birth cohort effect, suggesting the decline was not caused by exposure to environmental factors during an early period of life. The present results indicated that the incidence of gastric HPs increased with the decline in H. pylori infection, demonstrating an inverse association between the occurrence of HPs and the infection.