BACKGROUND:

Increasing evidence suggests that Helicobacter pylori infection (HPI) may have extragastric manifestations, including the respiratory system. This study investigated the role of HPI in increasing the subsequent risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a nationwide population.

METHODS:

We conducted this retrospective cohort study using data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database, which is derived from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 5941 adults who were newly diagnosed with HPI between 2005 and 2006 were selected. Healthy patients without HPI were selected from the general population and frequency matched as a ratio of 4:1, according to age, sex, and index years. Both cohorts were followed up from the index date to the end of 2011 to measure the incidence of COPD. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to assess the hazard ratio (HR) of COPD between the HPI cohort and non-HPI cohorts.

RESULTS:

The overall HR of COPD was 1.84 (95% confidence intervals = 1.57-2.17) for the HPI cohort, compared with the non-HPI cohort, after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities. Although the incidence of COPD was substantially higher in the elderly participants (age, ≥ 65 years) than that in younger participants, the highest HR (4.05, 95% confidence intervals = 1.39-11.8) of COPD was observed in the youngest (age, 20-49 years) participants.

CONCLUSION:

In this study, the patients with HPI exhibited a significantly higher risk of COPD than those without HPI did.