Risk of ulcer bleeding in patients infected with Helicobacter pylori taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Helicobacter pylori is an independent risk factor for bleeding peptic ulcer in users of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin. DESIGN: A prospective matched case-control study. SETTING: Odense University Hospital, Denmark. SUBJECTS: 132 patients with a bleeding peptic ulcer (n=124) or haemorrhagic gastritis (n=8) at endoscopy who had taken an NSAID in the previous week and 136 controls who had taken NSAIDs without gastrointestinal complications. The controls were recruited from rheumatology and geriatric outpatient clinics. MEASUREMENTS: H pylori status assessed by serology and 13C-urea breath test and regarded as positive if either test was positive. Data on potential confounding factors including smoking and alcohol were collected by interview. MAIN RESULT: H pylori was present in 57% of cases and 43% of controls. The adjusted odds ratio of bleeding from a peptic ulcer owing to H pylori infection in NSAID users was 1.81 (95% CI 1.02 to 3.21) and was similar in aspirin and non-aspirin NSAID users. Peptic ulcer bleeding was also statistically significantly associated with a history of previous ulcer bleeding, dyspepsia within the previous 3 months, drinking alcohol but not with smoking. About 16% of bleeding peptic ulcers in NSAID users could be attributed to H pylori infection. CONCLUSION: NSAID users infected with H pylori have an almost doubled risk of bleeding peptic ulcer compared with uninfected NSAID users.