Association between central serous chorioretinopathy and Helicobacter pylori infection: a systematic review and Meta-analysis

To investigate the association between central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) by summarizing all available evidence.

The Scopus, Embase, EBSCO, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for all relevant studies published from inception to October 2022 were searched, and manually searched for relevant reference lists as a supplement. Studies investigating the association between CSC and Hp infection were included. Finally, 8 case-control studies were included in the Meta-analysis after study selection.

The results showed no significant correlation between Hp infection and CSC [odds ratio (OR) 1.89, 95% confidential interval (CI) 0.58–6.15, I²=96%, P=0.29]. After subgroup analysis based on the degree of development of the study (developing/developed countries), it was found that the results of the two subgroups were the same as the whole, and no significant difference between the two subgroups existed. Meta-regression showed that the effect of sample size on heterogeneity among studies was more prominent (P<0.01, adjusted R²=89.72%), which can explain 89.72% of the sources of heterogeneity.

This Meta-analysis reveals no significant correlation between Hp infection and CSC, which still warrants further well-designed extensive sample studies to reach a more reliable conclusion and promote a better understanding of the treatment of CSC.