Helicobacter pylori specific IgG antibody and serum magnesium in type-2 diabetes mellitus chronic kidney disease patients

Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is common in diabetics with inade-quately controlled blood sugar. Evidence has been published suggesting that the prevalence of H. pylori infection is higher in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as opposed to the normal population. This study was conducted to investigate the association between serum magnesium (Mg) levels and H. pylori infection in T2DM patients with various glomerular function rates (GFRs). A total of 94 patients with mean age of 62 (±12) years and the duration of diabetes of 7.9 (±6.9) years (median: 7 years), were studied. The mean HbA1c in the study patients was 7.8 (±1.9) g/dL. The mean serum Mg was 2 (±0.50) mg/dL (median: 2 mg/dL), and the mean creatinine clea-rance was 62 (±23) mL/min (median: 64 mL/min). The mean value of serum H. pylori specific IgG antibody titers in the study patients was 3.9 ± 4 U/mL (median 1.9 U/mL). No significant relation-ship was found between the serum H. pylori specific IgG antibody titers and serum Mg levels and the age of the patients, creatinine clearance and duration of diabetes mellitus (DM). We could not find any significant positive association between serum Mg and H. pylori infection even among patients who had GFR below 40 mL/min. In a previous study on a group of patients on hemo-dialysis (HD), we had found a positive correlation between serum Mg and H. pylori infection. Thus, the high serum Mg level as well as its higher concentration in the gastric mucosa might facilitate the colonization of H. pylori in the stomach of patients on HD, but not in patients with various stages of renal failure that were not on HD.