Abstract
AIM: To investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in an Asian population. METHODS: The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for observational studies published up until June 2014, without language restrictions. Additional references were obtained from reviewed articles. RESULTS: Ten studies involving 1299 IBD patients and 1817 controls were included in the meta-analysis (24.9% of IBD patients had H. pylori infection vs 48.3% of the controls). The pooled risk ratio for H. pylori infection in IBD patients compared with controls was 0.48 (95%CI: 0.43-0.54; P < 0.001). There was no significant heterogeneity in the included studies (I (2) = 21%). Egger's linear regression indicated that there was no significant publication bias (P = 0.203). CONCLUSION: The H. pylori infection rate in Asian IBD patients is significantly lower than in non-IBD patients, indicating that infection protects against the development of IBD.