Study of the Association Between Diabetes and Helicobacter Pylori Infection in a Tunisian Population

Introduction: The association between diabetes and Helicobacter Pylori (H. Pylori) infection remains controversial in the literature. The aim of our study was to search an association between diabetes and H. Pylori infection. Methods: This is a case-control study carried out in 2017 over 3 months (September-October-November), collecting 120 patients with dyspepsia, matched for age and gender into two groups: a group of 77 patients with diabetes, and a group of control cases made of 43 non-diabetics. Diabetes was defined according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) of 2017. Clinical, biological, endoscopic and anatomopathological data were collected from medical records. Results: The average age of the patients was 50±2,1 year. The sex ratio was 0.51. 34.2% (n=41) patients were male. Diabetes was type 2 in the majority of cases (88.31%) and type 1 in 11.68% only. H. Pylori infection was more prevalent in diabetics (19.48%, 11.63%, p=0.27). H. Pylori infection was more prevalent in type 1 diabetics (44.44%, 16.18%, p= 0.04). The frequency of upper endoscopic lesions in diabetics and controls was 70.13% and 74.42%, respectively. Chronic gastritis, gastric atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia were found in 61%, 3.9% and 2.6% of the cases in the group of diabetics and 62.79%, 6.98% and 4.65% respectively in the control group (p= not significant (NS)). Conclusion: Our study shows the absence of a significant association between diabetes and H. Pylori infection, as well as the absence of endoscopic and histological specificities of this infection in patients with diabetes.