Helicobacter pylori infection may be related to development of atrial fibrillation, according to an article in the July issue of Heart.

British researchers evaluated 59 patients with atrial fibrillation, including some who had no structural heart disease, and 45 healthy age-matched volunteers who had similar blood lipid profiles. Notably, the arrhythmia group had significantly more patients with hypertension.

All participants were given a battery of tests, including electrocardiography, and measurement of C-reactive protein. They were also directly tested for the presence of H. pylori.

The patients with atrial fibrillation were around 20 times as likely to test positive for H. pylori as the healthy volunteers, and their levels of C-reactive protein were around 5 times as high.

Both H. pylori infection and C-reactive protein levels were also significantly higher among patients with persistent atrial fibrillation than patients with spasmodic episodes of arrhythmia.

The authors suggest that chronic gastritis caused by persistent H. pylori infection may predispose to atrial fibrillation.