Helicobacter pylori Infection in Children: A 10-Year Single Center Experience

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in gastric endoscopic biopsies in children histopathologically and to compare with the Sydney classification criteria. Methods: A retrospective examination was made of 408 patients, aged <18 years (range, 0-18 years) who were applied with GIS endoscopy for any reason and from whom biopsy was taken at our hospital between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2016. The cases were evaluated in respect of the presence of H. pylori and severity, chronic inflammation, activity, atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, and the presence of lymphoid follicles histopathologically. Results: The cases comprised 213 (52.2%) females and 195 (47.8%) males with a mean age of 11.16 +/- 4.89 years. H. pylori with varying rates was found in 158 cases (38.7%). When the cases were separated into age groups of 0-6 years, 7-12 years and 13-18 years, the frequency of H. pylori was determined as 20.7%, 28.9%, and 47%, respectively. Chronic mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration in all, activity in 81.6%, atrophy in 17.1%, lymphoid follicles in 17.1%, and intestinal metaplasia in 5.1% were observed in 158 cases with H. pylori positive. While there was a significant relationship between the presence of H. pylori and chronic inflammation and activity (p <0.01), there was no statistically significant relationship between the presence of atrophy and intestinal metaplasia and lymphoid follicles (p=0.23, p=0.26, p=0.14). Conclusion: The findings determined in this hospital-based study showed that H. pylori infection constitutes a significant health problem in children, especially in developing countries.