Salivary anti-Helicobacter pylori positivity among endoscopy patients with chronic liver disease

Abstract

In this study, endoscopy patients with and without chronic liver disease (CLD) were examined and tested for Helicobacter pylori infection by detecting the presence of serum and salivary anti-H. pylori antibody. The validity of these measures was compared with Campylobacter-like organism analysis (gold standard) performed on patients requiring gastric biopsy. Among 114 patients with CLD and 50 without, the commonest endoscopy diagnosis was gastritis (27.2%). Salivary H. pylori positivity was significantly associated with older age. Salivary anti-H. pylori antibody positivity showed low sensitivity (36.6%) and high specificity (75.8%) in CLD patients.