Abstract
BACKGROUND: Helicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) is known to cause various malignancies, and autoimmune disorders. However, the potential association between H. pylori and bronchiectasis has been not analyzed in the literature before. Thus, we aimed to explore the potential association between bronchiectasis and H. pylori. [Figure: see text] Forest plot showing the odds of association between H pylori seropositivity and bronchiectasis METHODS: Pubmed, Google Scholar and Embase databases were searched from inception till January 2024 for studies that investigated H. pylori seropositivity, anti H pylori IgG level, urea breath test (UBT) positivity, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture to detect H pylori in gastric juice (GJ) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in bronchiectasis and matched healthy controls. Outcomes included odds ratio of association between H. pylori and bronchiectasis, detection rate of H. pyroli in BALF, GJ or bronchial biopsies, standardarized mean difference (SMD) of serum anti H pylori IgG level between the bronchiectasis patients and the healthy controls. The analysis was performed in Revman 5.4 software. [Figure: see text] Forest plot showing serum anti H. pylori IgG levels between bronchiectasis and healthy controls RESULTS: Five studies comprising 455 participitants were included in this analysis. H. pylori seropositivity was nearly significantly associated with increased odds of having bronchiectasis. [Odd’s ratio=2.13, Confidence Interval (CI)=1.00-4.53, I(2)=53%, P value =0.05]. Moreover, the serum anti H. pylori IgG levels were significantly higher in bronchiectasis patients as compared to healthy controls . [SMD=0.37, CI=0.03-0.72, I(2)=62%, P value =0.03]. However, none of the studies isolated H. pylori from bronchial biopsies in both the bronchiectasis patients and the healthy controls. Interestingly, a study by Teke et al. found that nine patients (22%) of the 41 bronchiectasis patients and three patients (18.8%) of the 16 the controls had positive BALF on PCR, but this was not significantly different between the two groups. The other study by Gulhan et al. however did not find H. pylori on BALF PCR in any of the 26 bronchiectasis patients. CONCLUSION: Though the H pylori seropositivity was associated with bronchiectasis, further future studies of larger sample sizes need to be conducted. Further, newer methods to detect H. pylori in bronchiectasis patients need to be explored to prove the association owing to higher H. pylori seropositivity in the general population. DISCLOSURES: All Authors: No reported disclosures