Persistently Active Helicobacter pylori Infection Is Associated with the Development of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease

Background: / Aims: Previous studies suggested a link between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and steatotic liver disease, now termed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). This study aimed to identify the association of active H. pylori infection and new concept of MASLD in a longitudinal cohort. Methods: We reviewed 1,497 health examinees who had two endoscopic biopsies for H. pylori activity, without hepatic steatosis at the baseline abdominal ultrasonography. Subjects were classified into four groups based on H. pylori activity. Multivariable Cox models were assessed the link between H. pylori activity status and incident MASLD. Results: Over a median follow-up of 31.1 months, 247 subjects (16.5%) developed MASLD. The groups were: H. pylori naïve (n = 57, 15.6%), de-novo (n = 31, 15.3%), eradicated (n = 32, 16.1%), and persistent (n = 127, 17.4%). The H. pylori persistent group had a higher risk of MASLD compared to naïve group (hazard ratio: 1.41; 95% confidence interval: 1.01 - 1.96; P-value = 0.045). The association between H. pylori activity status and incident MASLD was significant only with ongoing infection. Conclusions: Persistent H. pylori infection increases the risk of MASLD, indicating that active infection may contribute to MASLD development. Eradicating active H. pylori infection might help lower the incidence of MASLD.