Zhongguo quanke yixue (Aug 2022)
Relationship between Helicobacter pylori Infection and Precancerous Lesions of Gastric Mucosa in Children in Central Plain Area of China
Abstract
Background Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection induced precancerous lesions of gastric mucosa mostly in adulthood. However, it is debatable whether these pathological changes could also occur in children. Objective To investigate the relationship between H. pylori infection and precancerous lesions of gastric mucosa in children hospitalized due to upper gastrointestinal symptoms in central plain area of China. Methods A total of 1 015 children under the age of 18 years old were enrolled. These children attended the People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University for upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, hiccups, and acid reflux from August 2018 to July 2021. All children underwent gastroscopy, from which gastric mucosal biopsy tissues were taken for rapid urease test and histopathological examination. The clinical and pathological data of the patients were collected retrospectively. The children were divided into infected and uninfected groups according to H. pylori infection status. The age, sex, endoscopic diagnosis, and H. pylori infection rate were compared between children in infected and uninfected groups. The incidence of precancerous lesions of gastric mucosa, inflammatory activity and the degree of inflammatory cell infiltration were compared between infected and uninfected groups, meanwhile these tests were also compared in children of different age groups. Results Among the 1 015 children, 854 (84.14%) were infected with H. pylori and 161 (15.86%) were not infected. H. pylori-infected children were significantly older than those of non-infected subjects (P<0.05). Endoscopy examination revealed that the proportion of chronic superficial gastritis in H. pylori- infected group was significantly higher than that in uninfected group, while nodular gastritis was more common in H. pylori-uninfected patients (P<0.05). Among the enrolled children, 54 were 1-4 years old, 199 were 5-8 years old, 435 were 9-12 years old, and 327 were 13-18 years old. H. pylori infection rate in groups of 5-8, 9-12 and 13-18 year-old children was significantly higher than that in group of 1-4 year-old children; and the infection rate in groups of 9-12 and 13-18 year-old children was also significantly higher than that in group of 5-8 year-old children (P<0.05). Among H. pylori-infected patients, 37 out of 854 children had precancerous lesions of gastric mucosa (with incidence rate of 4.33%), of which 17 patients had atrophy, 11 patients had intestinal metaplasia and 9 patients had dysplasia, and only one of the 161 H. pylori-uninfected patients (0.62%) had atrophic gastritis. The incidence of precancerous lesions of gastric mucosa in H. pylori-infected patients were significantly more than those uninfected patients (χ2=5.178, P=0.023). The level of active inflammation and inflammatory cell infiltration of gastric mucosa in H. pylori-infected children were higher than that in non-infected children (P<0.05). In groups of 5-8, 9-12 and 13-18 year-old children, the prevalence of active inflammation and neutrophil granulocyte infiltration in gastric mucosa were significantly higher than that in uninfected patients (P<0.05). In H. pylori-infected patients, children in groups of 9-12 and 13-18 years old showed more severe lymphocyte infiltration over the uninfected patients (P<0.05) . Conclusion In children, gastric mucosal precancerous lesions occur in 4.33% of H. pylori-infected patients in central China, this include atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia; the data revealed an obvious critical issue requiring future investigation and intervention for this group of population.
Keywords
