Clinical symptoms and social factors in a cohort of children spontaneously clearing Helicobacter pylori infection.
In a cohort study of 305 Swedish children, repeated blood samples and structured questionnaires were obtained from 6 mo to 11 y of age. Of the 40 children seropositive for Helicobacter pylori in one or more samples, 32 (80%) had cleared the infection by 11 y of age. No association was found between H. pylori seropositivity at any time and reported antibiotic consumption, size of home and family, type of day-care, history of atopic disease, length of breastfeeding or peptic ulcer disease in the family. Girls reported more (p = 0.002) unspecified abdominal pain during childhood than boys, but the difference in H. pylori infection rate (15/150, 10% for boys and 25/144, 17% for girls) was not significantly different (p = 0.09). Unspecified abdominal pain during childhood was reported more often (OR adjusted for gender = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.0-4.4, p = 0.04) for the children seropositive at some point (17/39, 44%) than for the seronegative children (54/217, 25%). RAP at 11 y of age was more often reported by the 9/36 (25%) children seropositive at some time in life than by the 23/172 (13%) seronegatives, but the difference was not statistically significant (OR adjusted for gender = 2.0, 95% CI = 0.8-4.6, p = 0.1). The study shows that H. pylori seropositivity was associated with a parental report of unspecified abdominal pain during childhood. Also, a history of unspecified abdominal pain was more common (OR = 51.6, 95% CI = 15.6-220, p < 0.001) in children reporting RAP at 11 y of age.
Department of Paediatrics, Sachs' Children's Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Y
Y
Tindberg
M
M
Blennow
M
M
Granström
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003441:Crowding / Q000523:psychology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G