No inverse relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and adult asthma with peptic ulcer disease.

Background/aims: Inverse correlation between childhood-onset asthma and human gastric Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection exists. To investigate whether adult asthma patients with peptic ulcer disease demonstrated lower rates of H. pylori infection.

Methodology: Asthma patients were identified from records of inpatient treatments or from 3 or more ambulatory care claims using the International Classifications of Diseases, Revision 9, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis code: 493. To be defined as a non-asthma patient, a person cannot have the code ICD-9-CM: 490-494, and 496 in inpatient records or in the ambulatory care claims. The sample included 2,894 H. pylori-positive patients with peptic ulcers and 522 H. pylori-negative patients with peptic ulcers. A logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio and a 95% confidence interval.

Results: Asthma patients with peptic ulcers included 74 H. pylori-positive and 21 H. pylori-negative. Non-asthma patients with peptic ulcers comprised 2,820 H. pylori-positive and 501 H. pylori-negative. Based on logistic regression analysis, adult asthma patients with peptic ulcers (OR = 0.71, P = 0.187) demonstrated similar H. pylori infection rates, compared to adult non-asthma patients with peptic ulcers.

Conclusions: Our data show no inverse relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and adult asthma with peptic ulcers.