Helicobacter pylori prevalence in dentists in Japan: a seroepidemiological study.
BACKGROUND
The infection mode of Helicobacter pylori is not well known. In order to prove that frequent exposure to saliva and dental plaque does not constitute a risk for acquiring H. pylori infection, we tested the hypothesis that the prevalence of H. pylori in dentists in Japan is the same as that in controls. We also studied factors associated with H. pylori prevalence by multivariate analysis.


METHODS
We examined serum anti-H. pylori-IgG in 232 Japanese subjects (116 dentists and 116 age- and sex-matched nonclinical controls). Participants were given a questionnaire that included demographic data, life style, past history, and gastrointestinal symptoms, and dental practice.


RESULTS
We analyzed the results for 111 dentists and 111 controls after exclusion of those who had an equivocal titer. The seroprevalence of H. pylori was 42.3% in dentists and 40.0% in controls. With multiple logistic regression, age was selected as the only independent variable correlated with seroprevalence (P = 0.0002; coefficient of determination 0.11). Factors associated with dental practice were not significant.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that dental practice in Japan does not increase the risk of H. pylori infection for dentists.
Matsuda
Reikei
R
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Yokohama City University, School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
Morizane
Toshio
T
Tsunematsu
Satoshi
S
Kawana
Ichiro
I
Tomiyama
Masakazu
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D003815:Dentists; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial