Background: The role of Helicobacter pylori as a determinant of cardiovascular disease is controversial.
Objective: To determine whether previous exposure to H. pylori is associated with an increased risk for myocardial infarction.
Design: Prospective case-control study.
Setting: Physicians' Health Study.
Participants: Initially healthy U.S. men.
Measurements: Titers of IgG antibody against H. pylori and several inflammatory markers were measured in baseline blood samples obtained from 445 men who subsequently had a myocardial infarction (case-patients) and 445 men matched for age and smoking status who remained free of vascular disease (controls) during a mean follow-up of 8.9 years.
Results: Baseline seropositivity was similar among case-patients and controls (43.4% vs. 44.3%; rate ratio, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.7 to 1.3]). Minimal evidence of association was found between magnitude of seropositivity and subsequent risk and between seropositivity and levels of the inflammatory biomarkers.
Conclusion: In a socioeconomically homogeneous population, we found limited evidence of association between H. pylori exposure and risk for future myocardial infarction.