COMPARATIVE PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF PREVALENCE OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI IN SYMPTOMATIC AND ASYMPTOMATIC GALL STONE DISEASE

ABSTRACT Background: Gallstone disease is a common gastrointestinal condition with unclear etiopathogenesis, especially indifferentiating symptomatic from asymptomatic cases. Emerging evidence suggests a potential role of Helicobacter pylori ingallbladder inflammation and stone formation.Objective: “To evaluate the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with asymptomatic and symptomaticgallstone disease.Methods: This was a single center, hospital based, analytical study – case control study design – conducted in the Department ofGeneral Surgery, JSS Medical College, Karnataka, India between June 2023 and December 2025.Results: In this study of 61 participants, 50.8% underwent cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone disease, while 49.2% wereasymptomatic cases. The mean age was 52.3 years, with most patients (65.6%) between 40–60 years. Males comprised 59.0% ofthe population. Anthropometric measures such as height, weight, and BMI, along with comorbidity status, were comparablebetween symptomatic and asymptomatic groups with no statistically significant differences. Helicobacter pylori infection wasdetected in 44.3% of participants overall. Notably, a significantly higher proportion of symptomatic patients (77.4%) were H.pylori-positive compared to only 10.0% in the asymptomatic group (p < 0.001), indicating a strong association between H. pyloriinfection and symptomatic gallstone disease. However, no significant associations were found between H. pylori infection andage, gender, BMI, or comorbidities.Conclusion: This study found a significantly higher prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in symptomatic gallstonepatients compared to asymptomatic individuals. The findings suggest a possible role of H. pylori in the pathogenesis ofsymptomatic gallstone disease.