Prevalence of H. pylori infection in the Polish child population

UNLABELLED: Helicobacter pylori is one of the most frequent pathogens of human. It plays a decisive role in the diseases of upper alimentary tract. Most infected subjects live in the developing countries. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of H. pylori infection in children depending on age, sex and place of living. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For the purpose of epidemiological studies the District Center of Informatics and Regional Data Bank have randomly drawn 1500 children; 500 from each: City District of Wroclaw, Oleśnica district, and rural district of Oleśnica--the regions varying in the wealth of inhabitants, monthly wages and unemployment rate. The children were selected in five ranges of age: under 1 year of age, 2-5 years old, 6-10 years old, 11-15 years old, and 16-18 years old. The proportion of both sexes in each subpopulation was taken into consideration. Altogether 478 from the selected children (31.89%) participated in the study. RESULTS: The average rate of H. pylori infection amounted to 34.5%. It was the lowest in Wroclaw--18.3%. In Oleśnica town district it was 42.2% and in Oleśnica rural district--38.8%. Higher rate of H. pylori infections was observed in youngsters aged 15 to 19 years living in rural area. No indication of the effects of H. pylori infections on the occurrence of symptoms from digestive system was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The studies have demonstrated an influence of social and economic conditions on the frequency of H. pylori infection in children.