Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Jun 26, 2016; 4(3): 63-68
Published online Jun 26, 2016. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v4.i3.63
Helicobacter pylori infection and asthma: Is there a direct or an inverse association? A meta-analysis
Rinaldo Pellicano, Marco Astegiano, Giorgio Saracco, Jacopo Colombini, Sharmila Fagoonee, Davide Giuseppe Ribaldone
Davide Giuseppe Ribaldone, Marco Astegiano, Gastroenterology - U, Department of General and Specialist Medicine, Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Sharmila Fagoonee, Institute for Biostructures and Bioimages-CNR c/o Molecular Biotechnology Center, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Jacopo Colombini, Otorhinolaryngoiatry - 2, Department of General and Specialist Surgical, Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
Giorgio Saracco, Department of Oncology, San Luigi Hospital, 10043 Orbassano, Italy
Rinaldo Pellicano, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Molinette Hospital, 10126 Torino, Italy
Author contributions: Ribaldone DG, Fagoonee S and Colombini J performed the research; Ribaldone DG, Fagoonee S, Colombini J and Pellicano R analyzed the data; Ribaldone DG, Fagoonee S and Pellicano R wrote the paper; Ribaldone DG, Saracco G, Astegiano M and Pellicano designed the research.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None to declare.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
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: Rinaldo Pellicano, MD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Molinette Hospital, Ambulatori S.G.A.S, Via Cavour 31, 10126 Torino, Italy. rinaldo_pellican@hotmail.com
Telephone: +39-011-6335208 Fax: +39-011-6336752
Received: April 2, 2016
Peer-review started: April 6, 2016
First decision: May 17, 2016
Revised: May 20, 2016
Accepted: June 1, 2016
Article in press: June 3, 2016
Published online: June 26, 2016
Processing time: 74 Days and 21.3 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To analyze the consistency of a potential involvement of the bacterium infection in the asthma disease.

METHODS: A systematic literature search of the terms “Helicobacter pylori” (H. pylori) associated to “asthma” using PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Library Central was performed. Reference lists from published articles were also employed. Titles of these publications and their abstracts were scanned in order to eliminate duplicates and irrelevant articles. The criteria of inclusion of the studies were: Original studies; the H. pylori diagnostic method has been declared; all ranges of age have been included in our study; a definitive diagnosis of asthma has been reported.

RESULTS: We selected 14 articles in which the association between the two conditions was addressed. In 7 studies the prevalence of H. pylori infection in the asthma population and in the control population was made explicit. There was heterogeneity between the studies (Cohran’s Q = 0.02). The H. pylori infection in the asthma population resulted 33.6% (518 of 1542), while in the control population resulted 37.6% (2746 of 7310) (relative risk of H. pylori infection in the asthma population = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.72-1.05, P = 0.015, random effects model). Instead, considering the more virulent strains, the majority of studies showed an inverse relationship between the prevalence of H. pylori infection and asthma.

CONCLUSION: In our meta-analysis the prevalence of H. pylori infection in the asthma population resulted not statistically significant lower than in control population (P = 0.15). Instead, considering the more virulent strains, the majority of studies showed an inverse relationship between the prevalence of H. pylori infection and asthma.

Keywords: Allergic diseases; Asthma; Extragastric manifestations; Helicobacter pylori; Hygiene

Core tip: The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and asthma is an important issue, since it could influence the choice of treatment. In our meta-analysis the prevalence of the infection in the asthma population resulted not statistically significant lower than in control population.