Inverse Correlation Between Helicobacter pylori Colonization and Obesity in a Cohort of Inner City Children. Issue 1 (11th October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vo, Hanh D.; Goli, Sridhar; Gill, Rupinder; Anderson, Virginia; Stefanov, Dimitre G.; Xu, Jiliu; Kulsum‐Mecci, Nazia; Schwarz, Steven M.; Rabinowitz, Simon S.
• Is Part Of: Helicobacter. Volume 20:Issue 1(2015:Feb.)
• Page Start: 64
• Page End: 68
• Publication Date: 2014-10-11
• Subjects: Helicobacter -- Periodicals; Helicobacter infections -- Periodicals; Stomach -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.3301405
• DOI: 10.1111/hel.12154
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1083-4389

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="hel12154-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="hel12154-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Recently, publications in adults and children have documented a potential role of <italic>Helicobacter pylori</italic> (<italic>H. pylori</italic>) in decreasing the likelihood of obesity. The present study compares the prevalence of <italic>H. pylori</italic> colonization between obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 95th percentile) and healthy weight (BMI ≥ 5th to <85th percentiles) children seen at an inner city medical center in the United States.</p> </sec> <sec id="hel12154-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>This retrospective study reviewed clinical features, BMI, and gastric histology of consecutive children aged 1–18 years undergoing an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. BMI percentile was calculated for age and gender. <italic>Helicobacter pylori</italic> colonization was determined by histopathologic identification of the organism. Multiple logistic regression was employed to measure the association between BMI and <italic>H. pylori</italic> colonization, controlling for baseline age, gender, and presenting symptoms.</p> </sec> <sec id="hel12154-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Among 340 patients (51.5% female, mean age of 10.5 ± 4.7 years), 98 (29%) were obese and 173 (51%) were healthy weight. The <italic>H. pylori</italic> colonization rate of the entire cohort was 18.5% (95% CI = 14.7–23.0%). Among obese children, 10% had <italic>H. pylori</italic> colonization compared to 21% of the healthy weight children (RR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.1–4.0). Conversely, 39% of noncolonized children, but only 21% of the infected children, were obese (RR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.1–3.3). Multivariate analysis revealed that being colonized with <italic>H. pylori</italic> is associated with a 50% reduction in the odds of being obese (adjusted OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.2–1.0).</p> </sec> <sec id="hel12154-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Our findings in a North American cohort are in agreement with studies from Asia and Europe suggesting that <italic>H. pylori</italic> infection decreases the prevalence of obesity in children. Further work to characterize the extent and nature of this relationship is warranted.</p> </sec> </abstract>