Review Article

Relationship of Helicobacter pylori Infection with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Table 3

Meta-analysis regarding the association of H. pylori infection with NAFLD in studies adjusted for confounders.

GroupsNo. studiesaOR (95% CI)Heterogeneityinteration
I2 (%) value

Study design<0.001
 Cross-sectional151.20 (1.05–1.38; )89.8%<0.001
 Case-control13.17 (1.83–5.50; )
Region0.05
 Asia131.30 (1.10–1.53; )91.5%<0.001
 Non-Asia31.05 (0.91–1.21; )18.00%0.295
Study quality<0.001
 Moderate-quality12.21 (1.18–4.12; )
 High-quality151.23 (1.07–1.42; )90.4%<0.001
Diagnostic methods of H. pylori0.01
 UBT81.21 (1.05–1.40; )78.1%<0.001
 Serology61.38 (1.06–1.73; )84.7%<0.001
 RUT10.96 (0.82–1.13; )
Diagnostic methods of NAFLD<0.001
 US121.19 (1.02–1.39; )91.8%<0.001
 Liver biopsy23.11 (1.93–5.01; )0.00%0.885
 Surrogate markers of NAFLD11.13 (0.97–1.31; )
Sample size0.25
 >500051.15 (0.87–1.50; )96.7%<0.001
 <5000111.29 (1.12–1.48; )63.4%0.002
Confounders adjusted0.05
 Full adjusted101.16 (1.04–1.29; )61.5%0.005
 No full adjusted61.46 (1.08–1.98; )91.6%<0.001
Publication form0.35
 Full text151.25 (1.08–1.45; )90.6%<0.001
 Abstract11.18 (0.69–2.03; )

Surrogate markers of NAFLD include FLI > 60, HSI > 36, or NAFLD-LFS > −0.640. Full adjusted: at least age, gender, BMI, and/or smoking, as well as three additional risk factors were adjusted. BMI: basal metabolic index, CI: confidence intervals, FLI: fatty liver index, HSI: hepatic steatosis index, NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD-LFS: NAFLD-liver fat score, aOR: adjusted odds ratio, RUT: rapid urease test, UBT: urea breath test, and US: ultrasonography.