Assessment of the relationship between serum fibrinogen level and chronic Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with or without

 Abstract Background: Infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumonia or Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) have been linked to ischemic heart disease (IHD) as the epidemiologic studies have shown. Other studies believed that raised plasma fibrinogen level has been claimed as a possible link between H. pylori infection and IHD. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was undertaken on 261 patients. 131 hospitalized patients were selected from CCU ward, as cases and 130 hospitalized patients from surgery and orthopedic wards of Iran University of Medical Sciences hospitals, as controls. HP infection, serum fibrinogen level and cardiovascular risk factors were determined in all cases and controls. T-test, chi-square test, general linear model and logistic regression model were used in analysis. Results: H. pylori infection was not in association with IHD. High fibrinogen level was also not associated with IHD in cases with H. pylori infection. Conclusion: Although there was no link between H. pylori infection, fibrinogen level and IHD in this study, some authors believe that the probable mechanism of this association is that under stimulation by the bacterium, mononuclear cells produce a tissue factor- like procoagulant activity that, through the extrinsic pathway of blood coagulation, converts fibrinogen to fibrin.