title: Helicobacter pylori and gastroesophageal reflux disease: a cross sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND\
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Helicobacter Pylori (H. Pylori) is a key pathogenetic factor in gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric carcinoma and lymphoma but its relationship with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is controversial. The aim of the study is to estimate the possible association between the presence of H. pylori and GERD.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective study we examined the endoscopy and pathology reports of all the 638 consecutive patients who had upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and adequate mucosal sampling in 2005 in our department at the University of Padova. Yates corrected chi2 test was used to compare the H. Pylori frequency in the different histological groups. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify possible predictors of H. Pylori infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this selected population 133 patients were affected by H. Pylori infection (20.8%) and 107 were affected by GERD according to Montreal definition. No significant relation between H. Pylori infection and GERD or NERD (non erosive reflux disease) was evidenced. As expected histological gastritis at the examination confirmed to be the strongest predictor of infection with a odds ratio of 39.4 (95% CI 5.4-287.4, p < 0.01). Upper abdominal pain showed to be the only clinical independent predictors for the presence of H. Pylori infection with a odds ratio of 1.5 (95% CI 1.0-2.3, p = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that in north eastern Italy there is no association between H. Pylori infection and GERD. On the contrary presence of histological gastritis and upper abdominal pain were confirmed to be significant predictors of H. Pylori infection. No endoscopic characteristic is significantly related to the presence of H. Pylori.
authors.affiliation: Oncological Surgery Unit, Veneto Institute of Oncology (IOV-IRCCS), Padova, Italy. marcoscarpa73@yahoo.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scarpa
authors.forename: Imerio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Angriman
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prando
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Polese
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ruffolo
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pilon
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erroi
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mescoli
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ninfo
authors.forename: Davide F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Norberto
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004945:Esophagoscopy; D005756:Gastritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies