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Background: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection increases with age. However, the relationship between H. pylori infection and anemia in the elderly population remains to be identified. The aim of this study is to explore whether H. pylori infection is associated with anemia in a male elderly cohort., Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed using data collected from asymptomatic male senior citizens (≥ 65 years old) who received an assessment of their health status at the General Hospital of Chinese PLA from January 2015 to December 2015. H. pylori infection was confirmed by the 13 C-urea breath test. Blood samples from the participants were taken to assay for hemoglobin and other erythroid-related indices - serum iron, ferritin, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Anemia was defined as hemoglobin values lower than 120.0 g/L. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was applied to establish baseline comorbidities., Results: Data from 646 subjects were analyzed. The mean age of the study cohort was 79.4 ± 8.9 years. The overall prevalence of H. pylori infection was 35.3%. The prevalence of anemia in the H. pylori positive group was higher than that in the negative group (5.3% vs. 2.2%, P = .033). Among the patients who had higher CCI scores (> 2), the prevalence of anemia in the H. pylori positive and negative groups were 10.3 and 1.4%, respectively (P = .009). Compared to the H. pylori negative group, the odds ratio for anemia of the H. pylori positive group was 2.53 (P = .033). No correlation between H. pylori infection and serum iron and ferritin levels was found. The mean corpuscular volume of the H. pylori positive and negative group was 91.17 ± 3.94 fl and 91.17 ± 4.09 fl (mean ± SD), respectively (P = .986). The CRP level in the H. pylori positive group was higher than that in the H. pylori negative group (Median: 0.17 mg/dL vs. 0.10 mg/dL, P < .001)., Conclusion: H. pylori infection seems to be associated with normocytic and normochromic anemia in elderly males, especially in those with more comorbidities. Further clinical studies are needed to verify the association.

The role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in haematological system diseases is not well understood. We conducted this retrospective study to explore the association between H. pylori infection and anaemia in the Chinese population. This retrospective study was performed in Aerospace Center Hospital in Beijing. We derived the data from the registration system of the physical population between 2012-2016. Logistic regression models were used to explore the association between H. pylori infection and anaemia. Among 17,791 subjects, there were 7,804 (43.9%) subjects with H. pylori infection and 950 (5.3%) with anaemia. The prevalence of anaemia in the H. pylori (+) group was significantly higher than in the H. pylori (-) group after adjusting for age, sex, marriage, underlying diseases and body mass index. Compared to H. pylori (-), the OR of H. pylori (+) was 1.39 for moderate-to-severe anaemia and 1.05 for mild anaemia. The level of haemoglobin was lower in the H. pylori (+) group than in the H. pylori (-) group. This study indicates that H. pylori infection may be related to anaemia and haemoglobin level in the Chinese population.