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- Title
Helicobacter pylori and the Birth Cohort Effect: Evidence of a Continuous Decrease of Infection Rates in Childhood.
- Authors
Roosendaal, Robert; Kuipers, Ernst J.; Buitenwerf, Johannes; Van Uffelen, Cees; Meuwissen, Stephen G. M.; Van Kamp, Gerard J.; Vandenhroucke-Grauls, Christina M. J. E.
- Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether the decrease in rate of <em>Helicobacter pylori</em> infection in subsequent birth cohorts has continued during the last decades. Methods: Determination by ELISA of IgG <em>H. pylori</em> antibodies in 314 serum samples from Dutch children (age 6-8 yr, n = 154) and young adolescents (age 12-15 yr, n = 160), collected in 1978 and 1993. Results: The prevalence of <em>H. pylori</em> declined from 19% to 9% at age 6-8 yr and from 23% to 11% at age 12-15 yr. For the whole study population, a decline from 21% to 10% (<em>p</em> = 0.01) was observed between 1978 and 1993. On the basis of these data and an incidence of infection with <em>H. pylori</em> of 0.3% per year during the same period, a model for both past and future prevalence rates of <em>H. pylori</em> in the Dutch population was calculated. The outcome demonstrates a decrease from more than 50% around World War II to less than 20% for the whole population around year 2040. Conclusions: <em>H. pylori</em> infection rates in childhood have continued to decline until recent decades, demonstrating a persistent birth cohort effect. This decline will result in a very low prevalence of <em>H. pylori</em> infection in the Dutch population during the next decades, becoming even lower as the observed decline in children and young adolescents continues.
- Subjects
NETHERLANDS; HELICOBACTER pylori infections; IMMUNOGLOBULIN G; BACTERIAL diseases in children; GRAM-negative bacterial diseases
- Publication
American Journal of Gastroenterology (Springer Nature), 1997, Vol 92, Issue 9, p1480
- ISSN
0002-9270
- Publication type
Article