Lower prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease but not with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - antibiotic use in the history does not play a significant role.

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have lower prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, but the exact reason for this is not yet clear.

Aim: To examine whether the antibiotics frequently used in inflammatory bowel disease are responsible for the lower prevalence of H. pylori infection. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on prolonged previous antibiotic therapy were used for comparison.

Methods: Presence/absence of H. pylori infection was detected by a (13)C-urea breath test in 133 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (82 ulcerative colitis, and 51 Crohn's disease) and compared with that of 135 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and with two age-matched control groups (200 patients each). Primary disease location, duration of disease and detailed analysis of previous and current medication (dose and duration of antibiotics, steroids, 5-aminosalicylic acid) were analysed in each cases.

Results: Seventeen of the 133 patients with inflammatory bowel disease [12.2% (10/82) of ulcerative colitis and 13.7% (7/51) of Crohn's disease] and 90/135 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (66.7%) were positive for H. pylori. A total of 78/200 (39%) for the inflammatory-bowel-disease-group-matched controls and 110/210 (55%) for the chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-matched controls were positive for H. pylori. The history of any antibiotic or steroid therapy had no influence on H. pylori status of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Conclusion: The prevalence of H. pylori compared to the age-matched controls is significantly lower in patients with inflammatory bowel disease but not in those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Antibiotic use is not responsible for the lower prevalence of H. pylori infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.