title: Helicobacter pylori infection rates in relation to age and social class in a population of Welsh men.
abstract: The seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to Helicobacter pylori was determined using a standard enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in a population of 749 randomly selected men, aged 30-75 years, from Caerphilly, South Wales. The overall prevalence of H pylori was 56.9%, increasing sharply in middle age from 29.8% in those aged 30-34 to over 59% in those aged 45 or older (p less than 0.0001). Age standardised seroprevalence rates were lowest in combined social class categories I and II (49.2%), intermediate in categories IIIN and M (57.5%), and highest in categories IV and V (62.2%) (p = 0.01). In those aged 30-34 years, the prevalence rate for those in combined social class categories IV and V was 57.9% - double the rate for social class categories IIIM and N (28.3%) and five times the prevalence rate in those in social class categories I and II (11.1%). These differences in the infection patterns of H pylori by social class are consistent with patterns of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sitas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forman
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yarnell
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Burr
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Elwood
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedley
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Marks
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012923:Social Class; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology