Growth and nutritional status of children with Helicobacter pylori infections / 中华临床感染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of Helicobacter pylori ( Hp) infection on the growth and nutritional status in children.Methods A total of 174 children with Hp infections were collected from Jinhua Hospital of Zhejiang University during March 2010 to September 2012, and 100 healthy children were also enrolled as the controls.The differences in age and gender between Hp-infected group and control group were not significant.All Hp-infected children were given first-line anti-Hp therapy and followed-up for two years.t test, repeated measure ANOVA and LSD test were used to analyze the growth and nutritional status between Hp infected children and healthy controls, as well as between HP-infection eradication group and relapse group.Results Among 174 Hp-infected children, 2 were diagnosed as true precocious puberty, 6 abandoned treatment and 8 were lost to follow-up.Among 158 children who completed the study, Hp infection was eradicated in 128 (eradication group), and relapsed in 30 (relapse group).The height, weight, peripheral levels of hematoglobin ( Hb) , Albumin ( Alb) , blood urea nitrogen ( BUN) , Fe and Zn in 158 Hp-infected children at the baseline were significantly lower than those in the healthy control group (t=2.674, 1.657, 12.709, 3.662, 4.227, 4.210 and 14.820, all P 0.05).In the second year of the follow-up, the increases of Alb, BUN, Fe and Zn in eradication group were significantly higher than those in the relapse group ( t=7.86, 5.17, 8.80, 5.92, 2.17 and 7.28, all P <0.05).Conclusion Hp infection may affect the growth and nutritional status of children, and the eradication of Hp infection may help to improve the development and nutritional status of the children.