Seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in a group of hospitalized geriatric patients.

BACKGROUND: In recent years several epidemiological surveys have reported the association between Helicobacter Pylori (HP), chronic ischemic heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD). None involved the geriatric population in which these diseases are prevalent. METHODS: We investigated the HP seropositivity prevalence in a group of over 75-year-old subjects recruited among all patients consecutively admitted for various diseases in an Internal Medicine Department during a period of 9 months. INTERVENTION: We measured HP IgG antibodies employing a commercially available kit based on reverse flow chromatography highly feasible and simple to perform and we investigated all patients for past or present CHD/CVD. RESULTS: From our data, the prevalence of seropositivity to Hp does not differ from other wider age stratified studies; more in detail; in the over 90-year-old patients we found the same HP seropositivity prevalence as in younger group but were not able to confirm the progressive lowering or seroprevalence in extreme geriatric age. CONCLUSIONS: No clear correlation between HP seroprevalence and CHD and CVD was found, but a link with CHD seems possible for the determinant (age) is common to both conditions.