relation between helicobacter pylori infection with thyroid autoantibodies in dyspeptic patients

background: infections attributed to helicobacter pylori ( h. pylori ) involve almost half of the world's population. one of the effects is auto-antibody induction and cross-reaction with numerous proteins in the body. as a result of its widespread prevalence and importance, this study evaluates the associations between h. pylori and thyroid auto-antibodies. materials and methods: this study enrolled 100 patients who were candidates for gastroesophageal endoscopies that referred to the yazd gastrointestinal clinic. patients underwent the following laboratory analyses: urease test, anti- h. pylori (igg), tsh, t4, t3 and thyroid auto-antibodies (anti-thyroglobulin, anti-thyroid peroxides). patients were divided into two groups of h. pylori positive and negative according to the results of the anti- h. pylori igg and urease tests.. the level of thyroid auto-antibodies and thyroid function were compared between groups. data were analyzed with chi-square and t-tests. spss software version 17 was used for data analysis. results: overall, 61% of patients were h. pylori positive. the mean anti-thyroid peroxidase level in the h. pylori positive group was significantly more than the negative group ( p ‹0.01). in addition, 19.7% of h. pylori positive patients and 5.1% of h. pylori negative patients had positive anti-tpo levels, which the difference between both groups was significant ( p ‹0.04). there was no significant difference in thyroid function between the two groups. conclusion: although no significant difference in thyroid function was seen in the two groups more patients tested positive for anti- tpo levels in the h. pylori positive group, which was suggestive of thyroid auto-antibody induction by h. pylori