Objective: Helicobacter pylori infection and colorectal cancer risk are not clear. We perform this meta-analysis to further evaluate the association between H. pylori infection and colorectal cancer susceptibility.
Methods: The databases of CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, and HighWire Press were electronic searched by two reviewers independently. The case-control study or cohort study about H. pylori infection and colorectal cancer risk were included in this meta-analysis. The association between H. pylori infection and colorectal cancer risk was evaluated by odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
Results: Fourteen case-control studies related to H. pylori infection and colorectal cancer risk were eventually include in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that H. pylori infection slight increase the risk of developing colorectal carcinoma (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.01-1.77, P = 0.05). Moreover, Begg's funnel plot demonstrated no significant publication bias.
Conclusion: Colorectal carcinoma is associated with H. pylori infection. However, for significant heterogeneity across the studies, this results should be further confirmed by large sample size cohort study.