Table 2

Prevalence of seropositivity for antibodies to some chronic infective agents

	Seropositive^2-150		Seronegative^2-150		Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval
Agent	Cases	Controls	Cases	Controls	Adjusted for age and sex only	Adjusted for age, sex, and other factors ^2-151
H pylori	134	294	112	348	1.41 (1.05 to 1.90)	1.28 (0.93 to 1.75)
C pneumoniae	94	234	91	236	1.04 (0.74 to 1.48)	0.95 (0.66 to 1.36)
Cytomegalovirus	114	221	82	245	1.57 (1.11 to 2.22)	1.40 (0.96 to 2.05)

↵2-150 For C pneumoniae and cytomegalovirus antibodies, analysis by thirds of titres was prespecified—that is, seropositive samples were defined as those in the top third of the distribution, and seronegative samples as those in the bottom third, whereas manufacturer’s recommended cut off was used to determine H pylori sensitivity.
↵2-151 Cigarette smoking (current, ex, never; number of cigarettes/day), markers of socioeconomic status (age at stopping education; occupation; housing tenure; car ownership; marital status; employment status), non-fasting serum total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures, body mass index, and previous history of diabetes.