Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in central serous chorioretinopathy and diffuse retinal epitheliopathy:: a complementary study

Introduction: In 2001, Mauget-Faysse et al. found a prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection of 56.3% in 16 patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and diffuse retinal epitheliopathy (DRE). This prevalence was twice that of the French population. This complementary study aimed to verify these results. Patients and method: Between 1996 and 2002, 78 patients living in the southeast of France with CSC/DRE were included in this study. H. pylori infection was assessed by the C-13-urea breath test. Diagnosis was confirmed by fundus biomicroscopy, fluorescein and ICG angiographies and retinal OCT scans (from 2002). Results were analyzed with the Chi(2) test. Results: Out of 78 patients, there were 60 males (76.9%) and 18 females (23.1%), with a mean age of 53 years (range, 29-80 years); 27 had CSC (34.6%) and 51 had DRE (65.4%). H. pylori infection was detected as positive in 31 patients (39.7%) and negative in 47 (60.3%). Men were detected positive in 43.3% of cases, compared to women detected positive in only 27.8%. The difference in prevalence of H. pylori between the study population (39.7%) and the overall population of 58,419,710 inhabitants of France in 1999 (25.4%) was found statistically highly significant (p = 0.0036). Discussion and conclusion: These results may indicate a possible association between H. pylori infection and CSC/DRE manifestations. These data confirm the first results of the 2001 prospective pilot study and also show a higher prevalence of H. pylori infection in men than in women.