Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes in serum pepsinogen (PG) I/II ratio induced by Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection
and assess the value of PG I/II test in evaluating organ damages in hypertensive patients. Methods The serum total cholesterol,
triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and PG I/II ratio were tested in 288 hypertensive patients with or without Hp
infection. The PG I/II ratio between the patients with different grade of hypertension, patients with and without hypertensive
nephropathy, patients with and without hypertensive retinopathy. The relationship of PG I/II ratio with serum total
cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL was analyzed with Pearson’s correlation analysis and the effectiveness of PG I/II ratio in the
the diagnosis of nephropathy and retinopathy was evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis.
Results Compared with patients without Hp infection, the Hp-infected patients showed significantly decreased PG I/II ratio
and increased total cholesterol and triglycerides (P<0.05), but their HDL levels, systolic pressure and diastolic pressure were
comparable (P>0.05). PG I/II ratio was significantly decreased in patients with nephropathy and retinopathy compared with
the patients without nephropathy and retinopathy (P<0.05), and was similar between patients with different grades of
hypertension (P>0.05). PG I/II ratio was negatively correlated with serum total cholesterol and triglycerides in the hypertensive
patients (P<0.05), and its area under curve (AUC) of ROC was 0.79 and 0.82 in the diagnosis of nephropathy and retinopathy,
respectively. Conclusions Hypertensive patients with nephropathy and retinopathy have obviously decreased PG I/II ratio,
which can be used for screening organ damages in hypertensive patients.