Helicobacter pylori is not a risk factor for stress ulcer bleeding in polytraumatized patients.

Background/aims: The pathogenesis of acute stress-related hemorrhage in critically ill polytraumatized patients is uncertain and any role of Helicobacter pylori infection is unknown. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori serological status of patients developing stress-related bleeding and those with no appearance of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Methodology: In our single-center prospective cohort study we investigated over a 3-year period all consecutive patients with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage for Helicobacter pylori infection by serology. Control group comprised 101 such patients with no evidence of hemorrhage.

Results: Of 396 assessable patients, stress-related upper gastrointestinal bleeding was observed in 11 (3.1%) patients. Six (55%) of the 11 bleeding patients and 45 (45%) of the 101 control group patients had serological evidence of Helicobacter pylori infection (p=0.5). Bleeding developed significantly more often in patients with more serious injury (for ISS, p=0.04, for TRISS p=0.03). Bleeding patients showed insignificantly higher mortality (36% vs. 15%; p=0.09).

Conclusions: Helicobacter pylori infection was not significantly more prevalent in polytraumatized patients with hemorrhage when compared with control group. Our data suggest that the infection with Helicobacter pylori does not play an important role in bleeding, indicating no causative role for it in upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage of polytraumatized patients. The incidence of bleeding is low and bleeding develops usually later, in the meantime is the Helicobacter pylori infection eradicated with the antibiotics used for another purpose.