Study on prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in adolescents with failure to thrive to compare with control group

Abstract

About 20-80% of the world population is infected with Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection in developing countries can be acquired at an early age, and this may lead to chronic diarrhea, malnutrition and growth retardation. The aim of this study was evaluating the prevalence of HP infection in the students of Tabriz which was in the age range of 13 to 15 yrs old and its correlation with physical growth factors. In a cross sectional and descriptive analytical study in Pediatric medicine department of Tabriz University of medical sciences on students in the age range of 13 to 15 yrs old in Tabriz we evaluated the prevalence of HP infection and its correlation with physical growth factors. Of 806 adolescents, 386 of them were male and 420 of then were female. The mean age of the boys was 175.87 +/- 4.72 months and girls was 175.32 +/- 4.51 months (P=0.095). The stool HP antigen was positive in 35.2% of adolescents with a mean level of 0.65 +/- 0.48. The HP stool antigen level was 0.70 +/- 0.49 in the adolescents with low socioeconomic and 0.55 +/- 0.42 in adolescents with high socioeconomic group (P<0.001). There was a negative reverse linear correlation between the level of income and HP stool antigen titers (P<0.001, R=-0.129). The HP stool antigen is higher in patients with lower socioeconomic level. There was a negative reverse linear correlation between the HP stool antigen titers and adolescent's, Height Percentile-for-age, Height z-score-for-age, Weight (K gr), Weight Percentile-for-age, Weight z-score-for-age, BMI. 'BMI Percentile-for-age and BMI z-score-for-age, but there was not a meaningful linear correlation between the HP stool antigen titer and age of the adolescents. [Lida Saboktakin, Mandana Rafeey, Ahamad Kousha, Siamak Mahmood Moradi. Study on prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in adolescents with failure to thrive to compare with control group. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):1425-1431] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 218