Objectives To assess the rate of intrafamilial transmission of Helicobacter pylori infection in the general population and the role of a family's social background. Design Population survey. Setting Campogalliano, a town in northern Italy with about 5000 residents. Participants 3289 residents, accounting for 416 families. Main outcome measures Prevalence of H pyloriinfection assessed by presence of IgG antibodies to H pylori. Results The overall prevalence of H pylori infection was 58%. Children belonging to families with both parents infected had a significantly higher prevalence of H pylori infection (44%) than children from families with only one (30%) or no parents (21%) infected (P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses confirmed that children with both parents positive had double the risk of being infected by H pylori than those from families in which both parents were negative. Family social status was independently related to infection in children, with those from blue collar or farming families showing an increased risk of infection compared with children of white collars workers (odds ratio 2.02, 95% confidence interval 1.16 to 3.49). Conclusions H pylori infection clusters within families belonging to the same population. Social status may also be a risk factor. This suggests either a person to person transmission or a common source of exposure for H pylori infection.

Our study suggests that the combination between QUID questionnaire and an ANNs-assisted algorithm is useful only to differentiate GERD patients from healthy individuals but fails to further discriminate erosive from nonerosive patients.

On the basis of this preliminary work, the use of ANN seems to be a promising approach for predicting diagnosis without the need for invasive diagnostic methods in patients suffering from GORD symptoms.

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