TOPLINE:

About 40% of patients with autoimmune gastritis had anemia, and these patients tested positive for anti-intrinsic factor antibodies more often than patients without anemia. Iron deficiency anemia in patients with autoimmune gastritis was linked to Helicobacter pylori infection.

METHODOLOGY:

• In patients with autoimmune gastritis, the destruction of parietal cells is linked to lower gastric acid and intrinsic factor levels and impaired absorption of iron and B12.
• Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the relationship between anemia, H pylori infection, and clinical features in patients diagnosed with autoimmune gastritis between January 2023 and December 2024 at a hospital in China.
• Diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis required gastric body atrophy, confirmed by endoscopy or histology, combined with positive antiparietal cell and/or intrinsic factor antibodies.
• Anemia was defined as having hemoglobin levels < 110 g/L for women or < 120 g/L for men and was classified as iron deficiency anemia or pernicious anemia using relevant criteria. H pylori infection was confirmed using a urea breath test or a stool antigen test.
• Researchers retrieved demographic, clinical, and laboratory data over a 24-month period and compared anti-intrinsic factor antibody positivity, pepsinogen levels, and H pylori status between patients with and without anemia.

TAKEAWAY:

• The study included 117 patients with autoimmune gastritis (mean age, 53.6 years; 72.6% female). Of these, 39.3% had anemia, with 17.9% having iron deficiency anemia and 21.4% having pernicious anemia.
• Patients with anemia more often tested positive for anti-intrinsic factor antibody (34.8% vs 18.3%; P = .044) and had lower median pepsinogen I levels (5.0 ng/mL vs 8.0 ng/mL; P = .033) than patients without anemia.
• Positivity for anti-intrinsic factor antibody was independently associated with the likelihood of anemia in patients with autoimmune gastritis (adjusted odds ratio, 2.379; P = .047).
• Patients with iron deficiency anemia had a higher incidence of H pylori infection than those with pernicious anemia (66.7% vs 28.0%; P = .009) and higher levels of pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II, as well as a higher pepsinogen I-to-pepsinogen II ratio (P < .05 for all).

IN PRACTICE:

“[The study] findings suggest a potential link between positive IFA [anti-intrinsic factor antibody] with anemia in AIG [autoimmune gastritis] patients, and IDA [iron deficiency anemia] may be associated with H pylori infection,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jingmei Liu, PhD, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. It was published online in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

The study was retrospective and could not prove causation between H pylori, anemia types, and features of autoimmune gastritis. The single-center study had limited generalizability. Some cases lacked pathologic confirmation, slightly reducing diagnostic accuracy.

DISCLOSURES:

The authors did not report any funding source and declared having no relevant disclosures.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.