[Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in children evaluated at "Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre", RS, Brazil]. / Prevalência de infecção por, Helicobacter pylori em crianças avaliadas no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

OBJECTIVES: To determine prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in a group of symptomatic patients between 2 and 18 years old who were submitted to gastric biopsy during upper endoscopy done in the period of 1990-97. To correlate the histological findings with clinical and endoscopical data. METHODS: A cross-sectional study done after review of clinical and histopathological data. Histopathological sections were reviewed by a pathologist, who did not know the clinical information and the previous histopathological reports. RESULTS: Among 181 patients evaluated, prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was 24.86% (45 positive cases). In pathological analysis, gastritis was found in 38/45 of the positive Helicobacter pylori patients and in 45/136 negative Helicobacter pylori. Gastric ulceration was found in 6/45 positive Helicobacter pylori and in 3/136 negative Helicobacter pylori. CONCLUSION: This study stated a significative association between Helicobacter pylori infection and pathological abnormalities in children evaluated in the "Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre", RS, Brazil.