Background: There appears to exist a potentially important interplay between diabetes mellitus (DM) and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Findings from previous studies have been conflicting. Only a few studies have examined the topic in a sub-Saharan African population. This study sought to determine the prevalence of H. pylori infection among Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in Lagos, Nigeria.
Findings: H. pylori infection was detected in 18% of T2DM patients and 13% of controls but there was no statistical significance in this difference (p = 0.52). The prevalence of H. pylori was neither associated with the known duration of T2DM nor was it associated with age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status. T2DM was not shown to be a risk factor independently associated with risk for H. pylori infection (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.58-1.31, p = 0.57).
Conclusions: The lack of a statistical significant difference between the H. pylori infection rates in T2DM patients and controls suggests that the infection is not increased in T2DM. Larger studies need to be conducted to confirm the study findings.