Helicobacter pylori is not a risk factor for hepatic encephalopathy.
BACKGROUND
Helicobacter pylori infection has been described as a risk factor for hepatic encephalopathy in patients with chronic liver disease although the topic remains controversial.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether Helicobacter pylori infection is an independent predictive factor for encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis.


METHODS
Clinical, epidemiological, analytical and nutritional parameters of 205 patients were collected. Helicobacter pylori infection was determined by serology. Encephalopathy (grade II or higher) was clinically assessed during follow-up. The relationship between each parameter and encephalopathy was analysed by Kaplan-Meier curves and the Log rank test. The most significant parameters underwent multivariate analysis by Cox regression.


RESULTS
Twenty-five variables were related to encephalopathy in the bivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis selected five independent factors: previous bouts of encephalopathy (Odds ratio 3.79; 95% confidence interval 1.94-7.38), albumin (Odds ratio 0.86; 95% confidence interval 0.80-0.92), tricipital skin fold (Odds ratio 0.79; 95% confidence interval 0.66-0.95) chronic pulmonary disease (Odds ratio 2.78, 95% confidence interval; 1.31-5.92), and on-going alcoholism (Odds ratio 2.62; 95% confidence interval 1.16-5. BB).


CONCLUSIONS
Helicobacter pylori is not an independent risk factor for hepatic encephalopathy.
Calvet
X
X
Medicine and Epidemiology Services, Corporació Sanitària del Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Spain. xcalvet@cspt.es
Nogueras
C
C
Roqué
M
M
Sanfeliu
I
I
D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011897:Random Allocation; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis