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High prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Malaysian Parkinson's disease patients

Authors Nafisah WY, Najman Achok H, Hamizah R, Azmin S, Remli R, Shah SA, Mohamed Ibrahim N

Received 25 June 2013

Accepted for publication 23 August 2013

Published 27 November 2013 Volume 2013:3 Pages 63—67

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/JPRLS.S50491

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 5



WY Nafisah,1 A Hamdi Najman,1 R Hamizah,1 S Azmin,1 R Rabani,1 SA Shah,2 MI Norlinah1

1Department of Medicine, 2Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Background: Studies have reported a higher prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in Parkinson's disease.
Objectives: To determine the frequency of H. pylori in patients with Parkinson's disease compared to controls and its effect on symptom severity and quality of life.
Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study involving 29 Parkinson's disease patients and 23 controls. The 13C-urea breath test was used to diagnose H. pylori. Symptom severity and quality of life were assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), respectively.
Results: The frequency of H. pylori infection was 48.3% in the Parkinson's disease group and 21.7% in controls (P=0.048). This became more significant (P=0.012) when we excluded relatives of H. pylori-positive patients from the control group. There was no association between Hoehn and Yahr stages, UPDRS and PDQ-39 scores, and H. pylori.
Conclusion: H. pylori infection is more prevalent in the Malaysian Parkinson's disease population compared to controls (48.3% versus 21.7%). However, symptom severity and quality of life was not related to H. pylori infection.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Helicobacter pylori, prevalence, 13C-urea breath test

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