The association between chronic periodontitis and oral Helicobacter pylori: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have shown that gastrointestinal Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is the main cause of chronic gastritis, but the relation between oral H. pylori and chronic periodontitis (CP) remains uncertain. A meta-analysis of published papers was performed to elucidate the correlation between oral H. pylori and CP. METHOD: To perform this meta-analysis, we searched papers published from 2000 to 2018 on PubMed, OVID, Springer Link, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Chinese Biology Medicine search engines. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the correlation between H. pylori and CP were estimated. Heterogeneity, publication bias and subgroup analyses were also conducted. RESULTS: A total of 918 papers on oral H. pylori and CP were collected, and 11 papers were in accordance with the inclusion criteria. Oral H. pylori was suggested to be correlated with CP. The results indicated that a H. pylori-positive state significantly increased the risk of CP 3.42 times (OR = 3.42; 95% CI = 2.71–4.31). A diagnostic test using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed a higher prevalence of H. pylori (OR = 3.70; 95% CI = 2.66–5.14) than did that using the rapid urease test (RUT) (OR = 3.13; 95% CI = 2.26–4.34). CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrated that CP was potentially correlated with oral H. pylori in adults and that oral H. pylori may be a possible risk factor for CP.