Assessing the Impact of Helicobacter pylori Infection and Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Pulse Wave Velocity and Arterial Stiffness

There is some evidence that pulse wave velocity (PWV) is increased in gastrointestinal conditions such as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the limited number of well-designed studies and sometimes inconsistent results have yielded more questions than answers highlighting a need for further investigation. The purpose of this review is to clarify the effects of H. pylori infections and IBD on PWV and arterial wall stiffness. The goal is to highlight the extent of the linkage between these gastrointestinal conditions and PWV and to help evaluate the practicality of PWV as a potential clinical diagnostic aid when examining arterial stiffness. PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Biomedical Reference Collection: Comprehensive were used to search for the full-text English language articles using keywords “pulse wave velocity” combined with either “H. pylori” or “IBD” present anywhere in the abstracts. A total of 59 papers matched the search criteria and were retrieved for evaluation. These were screened based on their relevance and availability of published papers. Full papers were analyzed based on inclusion criteria with a total of 10 articles selected and included in this review. In younger populations, H. pylori seropositivity might play a role in the development of arterial stiffness, as assessed by PWV; while in older populations, the effect of H. pylori on arterial stiffness seems to be minimal, with aging playing a major role in these older patients. PWV does not appear to be an accurate parameter to assess arterial stiffness in older patients with H. pylori. On the other hand, PWV might be useful to assess the efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF-alpha) immunotherapy in reducing the degree of arterial stiffness caused by inflammation in patients with IBD.