Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Fortaleza, Northeastern Brazil

A prevalência da infecção pelo Helicobacter pylori foi avaliada em amostra randomizada de indivíduos de uma comunidade urbana de baixa renda em Fortaleza, Estado do Ceará. O H. pylori foi detectado em 384 (62.9 por cento) dos 610 participantes. A taxa de infecção foi de 47.5 por cento em indivíduos com seis meses a 10 anos de idade, aumentou para 73.3 por cento entre indivíduos com 11 a 20 anos, e continuou a aumentar com a idade, atingindo 87 por cento naqueles com aproximadamente 60 anos. Após essa idade, a prevalência diminuiu discretamente. A prevalência da infecção aumentou significantemente com a idade (p<0.0001).

Helicobacter pylori infection in adults from a poor urban community in northeastern Brazil: demographic, lifestyle and environmental factors

We investigated the prevalence and the risk factors for infection with Helicobacter pylori in a randomly-selected population of adults from a low-income community in Northeastern Brazil. Helicobacter pylori infection was determined by ELISA. Risk factors were assessed using a structured interview. Two hundred and four individuals were included in the study, including 49 males and 155 females, ranging from 18 to 80 years old. Overall, 165 of 204 participants (80 percent) were H. pylori positive, without significant gender differences (p= 0.49). The infection rate was of 84.7 percent in subjects 18 to 30 years of age, increasing to 92 percent in subjects 46-60 years old. Above 60 years old, the prevalence decreased slightly. As a whole, the prevalence of infection did not increase significantly (p=0.147) with age. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of H. pylori infection, when patients were classified by age, smoking habit, educational level, alcohol consumption, the number of persons per room, the number of children per household, the number of adults per household, cup-sharing, household pets, toilet location, number of persons per bed and medical history of antibiotic and raw vegetable ingestion. In conclusion, no risk factors associated with infection was found in these adults, suggesting that the infection, even in a poor population, may be acquired predominantly during childhood; the relatively high prevalence that we observed may be more due to a cohort effect than to acquisition of infection during adulthood.