Objectives and Study: There are controversial reports regarding an inverse relationship between CD and H. pylori infection. As H. pylori may influence the inflammatory and immune response in the gut, we aimed to assess the prevalence of H. pylori infection in children with CD compared to non CD children and to explore a possible correlation between H. pylori infection and severity of CD.
Methods: All children aged 1-18, who were referred to upper endoscospy in Assaf Harofeh Medical Center within a 12 month period, were eligible for this prospective study. Gastric biopsies from the antrum and corpus were taken to investigate the presence of gastritis and H. pylori status. CD was diagnosed according to ESPGHAN criteria. Histological severity of CD was assessed by estimation of villous atrophy and intraepithelial lymphocytes number and were compared between children with and without H pylori chronic infection.
Results: Two hundred thirty two children were eligible for the study of them 102 were CD patients. CD patients were significantly younger compared to non CD patients, H. pylori infection was similar between both groups. Among CD patients more were of short stature, and less patients had abdominal pain. Presence of chronic H. pylori infection had no impact on severity of CD. Out of 32 CD patients with sub-total villous atrophy 23.7% had H. pylori chronic infection vs. 17.2% of 64 patients with total villous atrophy (not significant).
Conclusions: Chronic H. pylori infection is not associated with the severity of CD.
