Increased Risk to Develop Hypertension and Carotid Plaques in Patients with Long-Lasting Helicobacter pylori Gastritis

Helicobacter pylori infection has been reported to be positively associated with
hypertension, although with conflicting results. In this study, the relationship between H. pylori
infection and hypertension, as well as atherosclerotic carotid lesions, was analyzed. Methods.
Clinical records of patients referred to undergo upper endoscopy and gastric biopsy were retrieved.
Information regarding the presence of H. pylori infection with atrophy/metaplasia/dysplasia
(interpreted as a long‐lasting infection), and current or past H. pylori infection was collected, as well
as demographic variables, smoking habits, body mass index (BMI), dyslipidemia, diabetes,
hypertension, presence of carotid lesions, and current treatment, and analyzed by multivariable
regression models. Results. A total of 7152 clinical records from patients older than 30 years (63.4%
women) were available for the study. Hypertension was present in 2039 (28.5%) patients and the
risk was significantly increased in those with long‐lasting H. pylori infection after adjusting for age
decades, sex, BMI, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and dyslipidemia (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02‒1.35). In
addition, the long‐lasting H. pylori infection was an independent risk for carotid plaques (OR 2.15,
95% CI 1.14‒4.09). Conclusions. Our retrospective study demonstrated that long‐lasting H. pylori
infection is an independent risk factor for hypertension and the presence of carotid lesions after
adjusting for potential confounders, although further validation our findings is needed from
prospective studies.