Helicobacter pylori in early childhood and asthma in adolescence

Abstract

Objective: An inverse effect of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) on the occurrence of asthma is debated and early acquisition of H. pylori may be important. We analyzed sera from 197 children from Environment and Childhood Asthma (ECA) study in Oslo for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) at 2 and 10 years, and symptoms and signs of asthma at 16 years of age.

Results: While 16.4% of children who were H. pylori negative at 2 and 10 years had current asthma at 16 years, none of the 12 children who were H. pylori positive at 2 years of age had asthma at the age of 16 years, regardless of H. pylori status at 10 years. This trend for less current asthma in children who were H. pylori positive at 2 years compared to persistent or transient negative status at 10 years was not statistically significant, probably due to low number of H. pylori positive children at 2 years of age. Acquisition of H. pylori in school age did not appear to influence the risk of current asthma. Much larger prospective studies are probably required to document whether or not early H. pylori infection may be involved in the risk of asthma development in later childhood.

Keywords: Anti H. pylori IgG antibodies; Asthma in adolescence; Cohort study; H. pylori carriage in children and adolescence; Helicobacter pylori.

Fig. 1

Serum levels of IgG antibodies against Helicobacter pylori at 10 years of age in a group of 197 children followed from 2 to 16 years of age in relation to presence (1 = Red) or absence (0 = Blue) of current asthma at the age of 16. The two children with current asthma and positive Hp IgG at 10 years were Hp negative and Hp borderline at 2 years, respectively. Anti-Hp IgG: negative (< 17), borderline (17–22), positive (≥ 23). All given in arbitrary units (AU)