Risk factors for helicobacter pylori infection in children

Abstract

Objective: to establish the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in children and to identify risk factors for seropositivity. Methods: a cross-sectional study established the seroprevalence of infection by Helicobacter pylori and afterwards a comparative study was performed amongst seropositive and seronegative children. A group of 228 children were cared for at the outpatient clinic of Instituto Materno Infantil de Pernambuco, from May to July 1999. Age, sex, indicators of environmental, social and economic conditions, health and nutritional status as well as children living in contact with dwellers with history of gastrointestinal pain or peptic disease were evaluated. All data was obtained through an interview with children's parents or caretakers. Nutritional status was evaluated by anthropometric index. Results: seroprevalence of infection caused by Helicobacter pylori was found in 32% (95% CI 26%-38%); 25.8% (95% CI 17.8%-33.8%) in preschool children and 39.4% (95% CI 30.4%-48.4%) in school age children. Analysis of environmental variables demonstrated higher frequency of seropositivity in children living in houses without toilets or sanitary flush toilet facilities (p=0.008), overcrowded (p=0.05), lower family income (p=0.03) and poor maternal education (p = 0.002). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups regarding health indicators, anthropometric indexes and children living with dwellers with history of gastritis or peptic ulcer. Conclusions: seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was high in the studied population, being even higher among the school age group. A positive association between seropositivity and less favorable environmental variables was detected.

Prevalence and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection in healthy schoolchildren

“…The adjustments that produced the greatest reduction in the OR for location were those for household crowding and maternal education 26 . A higher frequency of seropositivity in children living in overcrowded houses or houses without toilets or sanitary flush toilet facilities, or in families with lower income or poor maternal education has been reported 21 . On the other hand, Sathar et al reported that there was no significant difference in H. pylori infection related to level of parents’ education, crowding or income, by either univariate or multivariate analysis 10 …”

“…In developing nations, most infections occur in childhood; prevalence rates exceeding 50% at age 10 and 80% in adulthood have been reported 14,19,20 . Seroepidemiological studies indicate that the prevalence rate of H. pylori progressively increases with age and as this infection may last for years or even decades, the seroprevalence curve reflects the cumulative effect on the infection rate 21 …”

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and intestinal parasitosis in children of the Xingu Indian Reservation

“…A via fecal-oral tem sido considerada uma forma importante de transmissão, sobretudo em países em desenvolvimento, nos quais as más condições de saneamento e a falta de higiene parecem desempenhar um papel fundamental na disseminação da bactéria 8 . Embora o micro-organismo tenha sido detectado nas fezes de crianças com diarreia, o isolamento desse espécime não é comum, devido à grande quantidade de micro-organismos contaminantes, o que inibe o crescimento do H. pylori.…”

Identification of life habits factors as risk for gastritis and colitis occurrence in a mestizo population of Chabeklumil, Chiapas, México

“…However, even though half of the human population seems to carry the bacterium its incidence varies, from 20% -50% in industrialized nations to 80% -90% in developing countries [5,6,12], which means that gastric diseases do occur by H. pylori infection and/or other causes [7,9]. Moreover, there is controversy among the putative infection pathways for the bacterium to colonize the human stomach, since no clear evidence exists from oral-oral, fecal-oral or food-borne transmission [3,13,14].…”

“…Moreover, people work for long periods of time during each day exposed to sunshine, they are subjected to fasting for many hours and eat late once arriving home, mainly irritant foods; in addition, they lack basic services like electricity, tap water and sewage [11]. All together, these conditions seem to favor gastritis and colitis occurrence [12,13]. Therefore we aimed to identify which are those factors that, according to gender, age, and lifestyle favor gastritis and/or colitis occurrence in the inhabitants of Chabeklumil, Sitalá, Chiapas.…”