Relation between Recurrent Abdominal Pain and Helicobacter pylori Stool Antigen in Children

Introduction: Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) is the most common gastrointestinal problem in children. The role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) with recurrent abdominal pain is not known precisely. Since H. pylori infection may be one of the symptoms of abdominal pain. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of H. pylori Stool antigen in children with recurrent abdominal pain and compared with the control group.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 107 children with recurrent abdominal pain and 107 healthy children were enrolled. Children in both groups did not have history of the liver, the kidney and the digestive disease and at least 2 weeks before the sampling had no history of using antibiotics, pump inhibitors (PPI) and antacids. Both groups were compared for age, sex, location, type of feeding in infancy, history of gastro-intestinal problems in the family. Morning Stool antigen of H. pylori of both groups were measured with ELISA, The kits containing polyclonal antibody against H. pylori in the reference laboratory. After data collection Descriptive statistics were used to calculate ratios and frequency, SPSS software was used for data analysis. To compare the frequency of HpSA in two groups, Chi-square test was used.

Findings: The average age of children with RAP and control group was 6.1±3.1 and 6.04±2.7 year respectively, the difference was not statistically significant (P =0. 94). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of gender. 83 children with RAP and 78 children in the control group were in urban areas. Distribution of location in groups was not statistically significant (P =0.426). In 73 children with RAP (68.2%), HpSA was positive while only 12.1% in the control group were positive for it and this difference was statistically significant (P =0.001). positive family history of gastrointestinal problems in children with RAP and control group was 54.7% and 27.1% respectively which this difference was also statistically significant (P =0.001).

Conclusion: In this study, HpSA is significantly higher than in children with RAP especially who have a family history of gastritis. This study suggests that in children with RAP, HpSA measurement which is a noninvasive method can help.