Correlation between Helicobacter pylori and women's infertility using both ELISA and PCR

Although Helicobacter pylori is known as a causative agent of gastritis, but due to its acidic tolerance characteristic, it seems that this species has ability to colonize the genital system. This may increase the risk of infertility among women. The aim of thepresent study was to determine the frequency of H. pylori in fertile and infertile women to find out the correlation between the H. pylori infection and infertility in women. In this cross-sectional study, 250 women including 131 infertile (cases) and 119 fertile (control) were taken under investigation. Blood was collected from each person and proceeded for detection of both IgG and IgM using ELISA. In addition, vaginal swabs was prepared for detection of Helicobacter using PCR technique. Data analysis was performed using Chi-square and T-tests. Among 259 samples tested, 158 (63.2%) were positive for H. pylori IgG comprises 65.54%(78) of cases and 61.1 %(80) of controls (p=0.463), but all the samples were negative for IgM. Vaginal swabs from cases and controls were all negative for H. pylori in PCR. Among cases,the causative factors for infertility was as following: 26 (70.2%) Polycystic Ovarian (PCO), 18 (52.5%) tubal factor, 21 (50%) unknown factor and 3 cases (100%) ovarian factor(OF).Statistical analysis revealed that the majority of IgG positivity were in individuals of 30-40 years age range (case and control 61.2% and 63.6% respectively), however it was not significant (P >0.05). Although the average IgG titer was found higher in infertile women but it was not significant. So, it seems that there is no correlation between the H. pylori infection and infertility. However, cases with PCO factor showed higher antibody titer when compared to other causative factors. Is it possible that this factor play a role in infertility?