(Helicobacter pylori infection and early onset myocardial infarction : case control and sibling pairs study)

John Danesh et al of the International Studies of Infarct Survival (ISIS) Collaborative Group at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford report a moderate association between coronary heart disease and testing positive for helicobacter pylori infection. The team conducted both a case-control study at ages 30 - 49 and a study of sibling pairs comparing patients between the ages of 30-49 who had survived a myocardial infarction with controls who had no history of coronary heart disease.

The case-control study found that myocardial infarction was twice as common in people with H pylori infection than in those not infected and that among sibling pairs myocardial infarction was a third more common. The authors say a large randomised control trial would be needed to establish a causal link.

Contact :

Dr John Danesh, Merton College junior research fellow, Clinical trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE Email : [email protected]