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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Jan 26, 2015; 7(1): 19-25
Published online Jan 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i1.19
Helicobacter pylori: Does it add to risk of coronary artery disease
Vishal Sharma, Amitesh Aggarwal
Vishal Sharma, Department of Gastroenterology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India
Amitesh Aggarwal, Department of Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi 110095, India
Author contributions: Sharma V and Aggarwal A contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: No conflicts.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Amitesh Aggarwal, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Dilshad Garden, New Delhi, Delhi 110095 India. dramitesh@gmail.com
Telephone: +91-98-11060025
Received: October 17, 2014
Peer-review started: October 20, 2014
First decision: November 27, 2014
Revised: December 14, 2014
Accepted: December 29, 2014
Article in press: January 4, 2015
Published online: January 26, 2015
Processing time: 96 Days and 4.3 Hours
Abstract

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a known pathogen implicated in genesis of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric carcinoma and gastric lymphoma. Beyond the stomach, the organism has also been implicated in the causation of immune thrombocytopenia and iron deficiency anemia. Although an area of active clinical research, the role of this gram negative organism in causation of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD) remains enigmatic. CAD is a multifactorial disease which results from the atherosclerosis involving coronary arteries. The major risk factors include age, diabetes mellitus, smoking, hypertension and dyslipidemia. The risk of CAD is believed to increase with chronic inflammation. Various organisms like Chlamydia and Helicobacter have been suspected to have a role in genesis of atherosclerosis via causation of chronic inflammation. This paper focuses on available evidence to ascertain if the role of H. pylori in CAD causation has been proven beyond doubt and if eradication may reduce the risk of CAD or improve outcomes in these patients.

Keywords: Extra gastric; Coronary artery disease; Helicobacter pylori; Atherosclerosis; Inflammation

Core tip: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a multifactorial disease and inflammation plays an important role in Atherogenesis. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is speculated to be one organism which may incite the inflammatory response thereby predisposing infected individuals to CAD. This paper looks at clinical evidence in relation to H. pylori infection and CAD and also examines the evidence of effects of eradication of H. pylori on CAD and its risk factors.