Clinical characteristics and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection‐associated Sjogren's syndrome

OBJECTIVE: Although infectious pathogens are predominant factors for inducing and maintaining immune system disorders, there exist few reports establishing the significant correlation between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and Sjogren's syndrome. This study aims to demonstrate the correlation between Sjogren's syndrome and H. pylori infection in patients, highlighting various clinical characteristics and risk factors. METHODS: A single‐center retrospective observational study was conducted in patients (n = 224) admitted from January 1, 2012, to February 10, 2021, in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (Wenzhou, China). All the recruited subjects with Sjogren's syndrome and H. pylori infection were only included by validating the available medical records online. RESULTS: In this study, a total of 224 patients from January 1, 2012, to February 10, 2021, were diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome. Among them, 94 patients (41.96%) with Sjogren's syndrome were infected with H. pylori. Accordingly, the clinical manifestations, serological and immunological characteristics, as well as gastroscopic biopsy outcomes of the recruited patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) were reported. The multivariable analysis of the dry syndrome patients infected with H. pylori displayed hypergammaglobulinemia (odds ratio [OR], 0.354; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.189‐0.663), total cholesterol (OR, 1.158; 95% CI, 0.856‐1.550), hypertension (OR, 0.227; 95% CI, 0.114‐0.455), Female sex (OR, 5.778; 95% CI, 1.458‐22.9), anti‐SSA/Ro60 positive (OR, 2.384; 95% CI, 233‐4.645), γ‐GT (OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.99‐1.00) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP, OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99–1.00) levels. CONCLUSION: Together, our findings demonstrated that hypergammaglobulinemia could be the independent risk factors of H. pylori infection in patients with Sjogren's syndrome, requiring the physician's advice in the future.