title: Decreasing trend of Helicobacter pylori infection in children with gastrointestinal symptoms from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Helicobacter pylori infection is declining in developed and developing countries. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate over an 8-year period the rate of H. pylori infection in children with gastrointestinal symptoms from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the records of children referred from 2002 to 2009 to the gastroenterology unit of the Children Hospital "Superiora Sor Maria Ludovica" for evaluation of upper gastrointestinal signs and symptoms in which the (13) C-urea breath test was performed to diagnose H. pylori infection and a sociodemographic questionnaire was obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Records of a total of 1030 children and adolescents with a mean age of 9.99 years were included in the analysis. We found an H. pylori prevalence of 41.2% (95% CI, 36.9-46.0%) for the triennium 2002-2004, dropping to 26.0% (95% CI, 20.7-31.8%) in the triennium 2007-2009.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed a significant decrease in H. pylori infection rates from children referred for upper gastrointestinal symptoms evaluation from 2002 to 2009, following the H. pylori epidemiologic trend reported in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Stable Isotopes Applied to Biology and Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. mjanje@ffyb.uba.ar
authors.forename: Mariana A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Janjetic
authors.forename: Cinthia G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: Domingo A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barrado
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cueto Rua
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Balcarce
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mantero
authors.forename: Marcela B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Zubillaga
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: José R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Boccio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001944:Breath Tests; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014508:Urea / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014508:Urea