Helicobacter pylori infection in Icelandic children.

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink below The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is decreasing in the western world. The seroprevalence among 25-50-year-old Icelandic adults was recently shown to be 30-40%. Information on the seroprevalen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology
Main Authors: Asgeirsdottir, G A, Kjartansdottir, I, Olafsdottir, A S, Hreinsson, J P, Hrafnkelsson, H, Johannsson, E, Björnsson, E S
Other Authors: 1 Natl Univ Hosp Iceland, Sect Gastroenterol & Hepatol & Radiol, Reykjavik, Iceland Show the Organization-Enhanced name(s) 2 Univ Iceland, Fac Med, Reykjavik, Iceland Show the Organization-Enhanced name(s) 3 Univ Iceland, Sch Educ, Reykjavik, Iceland
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2336/620215
https://doi.org/10.1080/00365521.2017.1304986
Description
Summary:To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink below The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is decreasing in the western world. The seroprevalence among 25-50-year-old Icelandic adults was recently shown to be 30-40%. Information on the seroprevalence in Nordic children is limited. We aimed at ascertaining the infection prevalence among healthy Icelandic children. The infection status in stored frozen blood samples from two cross-sectional studies on the health of 7-9-year-old children (n = 125) and 16-18-year-old adolescents (n = 80) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Information on family demographics and GI symptoms was obtained by standardized questionnaires. Overall, 3.4% (7/205) of the children were infected with H. pylori. The prevalence was 2.6% (5/190), missing data n = 3, among children with both parents born in a low prevalence country compared to 17% (2/12) among those with at least one parent born in a high prevalence area (p = .026). When at least one parent was born in a high prevalence country, the odds ratio for being H. pylori seropositive was 2.2 (95% CI, 1.02-54.67), when adjusted for the educational status of the mother. There was no significant association between H. pylori infection and gastrointestinal symptoms. Prevalence of H. pylori infection in Iceland has become very low, suggesting a great reduction in transmission from older generations. There was an association between H. pylori infection and origin from high prevalence areas but not with gastrointestinal symptoms. The results mirror recent studies of children of Scandinavian ancestry.