title: Relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection (HP) and bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly people.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low bone mass is a frequent complication of chronic inflammatory disease. The pathogenesis of osteoporosis in chronic inflammatory disease may be secondary to releases of cytokines such as TNF- and IL6. Chronic gastritis due to helicobacter pylori (HP) infection may lead to decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and predispose patients to osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to determine the BMD status in HP positive patients with gastritis versus HP negative cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 967 participants aged 60 years old and more from Amirkola Health Study Ageing Project. Seven-hundred and fifty eight HP positive and 209 HP negative patients were analyzed. BMD was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) method in the spine and femoral neck in all participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age in HP+ and HP- negative patients was 68.3±6.8 and 69.3±7.4 years, respectively. BMD g/cm2 in the spine and femoral neck did not differ between the two groups (P=0.19 and 0.22 respectively). The prevalence of osteoporosis did not also differ across the two groups as well. There was no relationship between the level of antibodies against HP and BMD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the findings of this study, H. pylori infection is not associated with BMD changes in the elderly population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdiye
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fotouk-Kiai
authors.affiliation: Social Determinates of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ba Babol University of Medical Sciences Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Reza
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hoseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meftah
authors.affiliation: Social Determinates of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ba Babol University of Medical Sciences Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghadimi
authors.affiliation: Social Determinates of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ba Babol University of Medical Sciences Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bijani
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Hajighorban
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noreddini
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nematollahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shokri-Shirvani
keywords: Bone mineral density; Elderly patients; Helicobacter pylori; Osteoprosis