Role of Helicobacter pylori Infection on Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the Elderly (A Case-Control Study)

Abstract

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) useis known to be associated with a high incidence of uppergastrointestinal tract bleeding in the elderly. Theincreased prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, which also occurs with age, suggeststhat an interaction between NSAID use and HP infectionmay explain the higher incidence of ulcer complicationsin the elderly. The aim of the present study was to determine if a relationship existsbetween HP infection and NSAID use in elderly patientswith upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This was a case-control study on 146 elderly patients (73/group). The bleeding group consisted of 37 males and 36females (mean age 80.4 years, range 70-96) with symptoms(hematemesis, melena, anemia with loss of more than 3 ghemoglobin), and endoscopic stigmata of bleeding. The control group consisted of 73 age- andsex-matched patients with the same endoscopic diagnosisbut with no endoscopic stigmata of bleeding. NSAID usewas evaluated by interview at the time of endoscopy, and HP infection was confirmed in all cases byhistology and the rapid urease test. Statisticalanalyses were performed using the chisquare test andlogistic regression. In both groups, 46.57% of patients were affected with gastric ulcer, 36.98% withduodenal ulcer, and 16.43% with erosive gastritis. Thebleeding group had a significantly higher percentage ofNSAID users (53.42% vs 19.17%, P < 0.0001) and a lower percentage of HP-positive patients(47.94% vs 72.60%, P = 0.004). The NSAID use pattern wasas follows: occasional users (sporadic, as needed duringthe previous week): 53.8% of bleeding cases and 50% of controls; acute users (continuoustherapy for less than one month): 17.9% of bleedingcases and 28.5% of controls; and chronic users(continuous therapy for more than one month): 28.2% ofbleeding cases and 21.4% of controls. The logisticregression demonstrated that NSAID use was significantlyrelated to an increase risk of bleeding both in gastric(odds ratio: 4.98, 95% CI: 1.83-13.6) and duodenal ulcer patients (odds ratio: 10.2, 95% CI: 2.25-46.7) while HP-positivity presented a significantinverse relationship with bleeding only in subjects withgastric lesions (odds ratio: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.07- 0.55). NSAID use and HP infection were alsoshown to be independent, unrelated factors, with theoverall risk of bleeding in HP-positive NSAID usersidentified to be significantly less than in HP-negative NSAID users. In conclusion, in elderlypatients: (1) NSAID use increases the risk of uppergastrointestinal bleeding while HP infection wasassociated with a low risk for gastric bleeding; and (2)the two factors are independent variables, thereforethe HP-positive NSAID user has a lower risk than theHP-negative NSAID user.