One key area of interest in gastroenterology research is the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Several studies have shown varying results regarding the prevalence of H. pylori in IBD patients and its impact on disease progression, severity, and overall outcome. This is a prospective cohort study conducted at King Fahad University Hospital in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia from November 2023 to May 2024 to determine the prevalence of H. pylori in IBD patients and its association with severity. The study included 2 arms for comparison which are IBD patients and control group, IBD will be further classified to CD and UC. Prevalence of H. pylori infection and severity of the disease was compared between these groups. A total of 360 patients were included in the study which were divided equally into IBD group and control group. The IBD was subdivided into CD with 91 cases and UC with 89 cases. H. Pylori was significantly higher in control group (23.3%) compared with UC cases (13.2%) p value: 0.048. H. pylori infection was significantly high in smokers p value = < 0.0001. The presence of autoimmune disease was significantly associated with H. Pylori infection (16.4%) p value: 0.023. H. pylori infection was significantly higher in the control group in comparison to IBD group. In addition, smoking and autoimmune disease were significantly associated with H. pylori infection. Finally, the overall association between severity of CD, UC and medication use with H. Pylori were insignificant.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is highly prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and advanced fibrosis is the strongest predictor of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Therefore, early noninvasive risk stratification is critical. While the Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index and vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) are widely used, the newer FibroScan-AST (FAST) score has shown promise in detecting at-risk metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) with significant fibrosis. Evidence comparing the FAST and FIB-4 indices in Middle Eastern T2D populations remains limited. We compared the diagnostic performances of these models for advanced fibrosis in Saudi patients with T2D and MASLD. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 273 patients diagnosed with T2D and MASLD. All patients underwent VCTE. To identify advanced fibrosis, we used liver stiffness measurement (LSM) as a surrogate marker for liver biopsy. We calculated the FAST and FIB-4 indices for each patient. To assess the diagnostic performance of these scores, we evaluated their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: In this cohort study, 26.4% of participants had a high-risk FAST score (>0.35; median: 0.13). Patients with high-risk FAST scores (>0.35) were younger, had higher BMIs, elevated liver enzyme levels, and poorer glycemic control than those in the lower-risk groups. High-risk FAST scores were strongly correlated with elevated LSM, FIB-4, and controlled attenuation parameter values (p < 0.001). The FAST score demonstrated better performance than the FIB-4 index in detecting advanced fibrosis. It showed higher accuracy (85.4% vs. 77.3%), sensitivity (82.0% vs. 48.0%), and negative predictive value (95.5% vs. 87.8%) while maintaining a similar specificity. The AUROC values were 0.936 (95% CI: 0.901–0.971) for the FAST score compared to 0.711 (95% CI: 0.625–0.797) for the FIB-4 index. Conclusions: The FAST score demonstrated better diagnostic accuracy than the FIB-4 index and identified patients with poor metabolic control and obesity as being at the highest risk among Saudi patients with T2D and MASLD. These findings support the integration of other elastography-based tests into stepwise fibrosis screening pathways for diabetic populations, potentially improving the early detection of advanced fibrosis and patient outcomes.

Background: Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are the venous thromboembolism (VTE) events that together present a major healthcare problem in the world, which results in significant morbidity, mortality and economic outflow. VTE is a multifactorial disorder, determined by a combination of risk factors including hospitalization, surgery, critical care, and one or more isolated medical conditions. Objective: The objective of the study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the prevalence of VTE and to identify key risk factors across various clinical and demographic conditions, in order to inform prophylactic measures. Methods: A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar among the studies that were published between 1998 and 2022 in the English language. The keywords were used as “venous thromboembolism”, “deep vein thrombosis”, “pulmonary embolism”, “incidence”, and “risk factors”. The observational, cohort studies, and systematic reviewed research on the VTE epidemiology and risk factors among human populations were considered as the eligible studies. Studies with improper methodologies and editorials, non-English studies were eliminated. Results: The incidence of VTE varies worldwide, ranging from 2 cases per 1,000 person-years, with higher prevalence in hospitalized patients (15-30%) and critically ill patients (up to 20 %). The main risk factors include advanced age, hospitalisation, and surgical intervention, as well as malignant tumours (4-7-fold increased risk), obesity, immobility, inherited thrombophilia with a common genetic background, and rare diseases such as KILT syndrome. Additionally, ethnic and gender differences influence the incidence. Conclusion: VTE is a complex condition that must be prevented on an individual basis, considering different risk profiles. Future research should focus on prospective studies across various groups to enhance risk assessment models and enable personalised thromboprophylaxis, thereby reducing the burden of VTE.

Introduction: The association with Helicobacter pylori infection and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is conflicting, with the former studies reporting a protective effect while others report increased inflammation. This study examines the effect of H. pylori infection on systemic inflammation – C-reactive protein levels – among IBD patients. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University Hospital, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, by reviewing the electronic medical records of 630 patients diagnosed with H. pylori infection, CD, or UC from January 2020 to December 2024. The levels of CRP were measured with a turbidimetric immunoassay of high sensitivity and categorized as normal or less than or equal to 1 mg/dL, moderate with a value of 1–10 mg/dL, or raised if the value is above 10 mg/dL. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical comparisons of CRP levels between groups. Results: Mean CRP levels were highest in H. pylori-positive CD patients (12.69 mg/dL), UC patients (11.18 mg/dL), compared to H. pylori-negative matches (6.74 mg/dL for CD and 4.55 mg/dL for UC). The H. pylori-only group had the lowest average in CRP (2.62 mg/dL). Differences in patient categories were significant (p < 0.001); CD had 50% cases with elevated CRP, 40% for UC, and 60% for moderate elevations in H. pylori-only patients. Conclusion: H. pylori infection is also accompanied by higher systemic inflammation in IBD, specifically in CD, characterized by high CRP.