title: Frequency of Helicobacter pylori antibodies in porto-systemic encephalopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the frequency of Helicobacter pylori antibodies in patients presenting with porto-systemic encephalopathy due to liver disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Different medical units at Civil Hospital, Karachi between May 2001 and April 2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the study period, seventy-six patients of porto-systemic encephalopathy due to liver diseases were selected. These subjects were evaluated for hepatic encephalopathy grade, modified Child-Pugh classification and were managed according to the standard practices. These patients were evaluated for Helicobacter (H. pylori ) antibody status by ELISA(Abbott Laboratories) method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 76 patients studied and tested for H. pylori antibodies, 48(63.2%) were males and 28(36.8%) were females with age ranging between 17 and 85 years. Out of 76 patients who presented with porto-systemic encephalopathy, 59(77.6%) had a positive H. pylori antibody test. Thirty five of these were males and 24 were females. A significant number of patients who presented with higher grade of encephalopathy were H. pylori antibody positive (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, frequency of H. pylori antibodies was significantly high in patients of porto-systemic encephalopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Civil Hospital, Karachi.
authors.forename: Gul Hassan
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Sethar
authors.forename: Raeefuddin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Bader Faiyaz
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Zuberi
authors.forename: Salahuddin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afsar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology*; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial