Prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori Infection in School and Pre-School Aged Children with C-14 Urea Breath Test and the Association with Familial and Environmental Factors

Abstract

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in pre-school and school age children with C-14 urea breath test, and to explore its association with age and socioeconomic factors in Turkey.Methods:Hp infection status was determined by using Urea Breath Test (UBT). Patients who had previous gastric surgery, Hp eradication treatment or equivocal UBT results were excluded. A questionnaire was administered to elicit information on gender, age, ABO/Rh blood group type, presence of gastric disease in the family, domestic animal in the household, and treatment for idiopathic Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA).Results:This retrospective study included 500 pediatric patients (179 boys, 321 girls, mean age 10.7±4.3 years) of whom 62 (12.4%) were aged ≤6 years and 438 (87.6%) were aged 7 to 16 years. Helicobacter pylori (Hp) was positive in 245 (49%) cases. In the pre-school age group, 21/62 cases (34%) had positive UBT while in the school age group 224/438 children (51%) had positive UBT. A family history of dyspepsia and pet ownership were not associated with Hp positivity. Hp positive 76 (29.8%) children were on IDA treatment but this was not statistically significant.Conclusion:The Hp infection positivity rate was 49% in the pediatric age study group. The positivity rate was significantly lower at preschool age than school age, and it increased with age. There was no association with gender, ABO/Rh blood groups, presence of domestic pets, IDA, or history of gastric disease in the family.

Prevalence and Associated Symptoms ofHelicobacter pyloriInfection among Schoolchildren in Kassala State, East of Sudan

“…This value is similar to those reported in Iran (19.8%) [ 13 ], but higher than 15.1% reported in Taiwan [ 8 ]. However, our finding was lower than 27.4% reported in Saudi Arabia [ 14 ] and 49% in Turkey [ 15 ]. Reports presented in this study, together with reports of others, indicate that there is quite a variation in prevalence of H. pylori infections all around the world.…”

“…In contrary to these findings, a study carried out in Yemen found that girls were more affected than boys [ 21 ]. However, elsewhere studies showed no differences in the prevalence of infection between boys and girls [ 15 , 17 ].…”

Change of Helicobacter pylori prevalence in a decade among children undergoing endoscopy

“…In a large cohort of Brazilian children H. pylori was investigated by rapid urease test and postivity decreased from 60.4 to 30. 4 Some weak points of the study need to be addressed. Nearly half of the pathology reports of antral biopsies in group 1 could not be reached due to archiving problems but as the reports were lost randomly, we think it is still not a biased sample.…”

“…In a recent nationwide epidemiological study in Turkey among adults, H. pylori prevalence was 82.5% 3 . Most recent H. pylori prevalence study involving Turkish children have reported a prevalence of 49% 4 .…”

Esophageal eosinophilia in children: A 6-year single-center experience

“…9 H. pylori gastritis has been determined in 6% of children with EE, a lower figure than in population-based H. pylori prevalence studies. 10 An inverse association has been reported between H. pylori infection and EE in previous pediatric studies. 11,12 H. pylori infection reduces the development of atopy by approximately 20%, which is protective against IgE mediated reactions.…”