Seropositivity: Prevalence, Associations, and the Impact on Incident Metabolic Diseases/Risk Factors in the Population-Based KORA Study.

() is a common infection and known risk factor for gastric cancer. We assessed cross-sectional and longitudinal associations to study the impact of seropositivity on metabolic diseases. seropositivity in serum samples of the KORA study was analyzed by multiplex serology. We calculated sex-specific prevalence of seropositivity for the year 2007 based on the first follow-up survey (termed F4) of the KORA study S4. We identified factors associated with seropositivity in the F4 survey. Further, we assessed relative risks of incident metabolic diseases/risk factors at the time of the second follow-up survey of S4 (termed FF4) and seropositivity at the F4 survey as a determinant. Models were adjusted for age, sex, overweight status, physical activity, smoking status, education level, alcohol intake, and other metabolic diseases. Based on 3,037 persons aged 32 to 82 years, the prevalence for 2007 was 30.2% in men ( = 1,465) and 28.1% in women ( = 1,572). Increasing age, current smoking, low education and no alcohol intake were significantly associated with seropositivity in the F4 survey. However, no association between seropositivity and BMI, metabolic diseases (type 2 diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia, gout or increased uric acid) and gastrointestinal diseases (gastritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and gastric or duodenal ulcer) was observed. No significant associations between seropositivity and one of the five investigated incident metabolic diseases/risk factors were detected in the longitudinal analysis. We identified associations between age, smoking, education and alcohol intake and seropositivity but no impact of seropositivity on incident metabolic diseases/risk factors.