Prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori Infection in Children and Diagnostic Evaluation of Helicobacter Pylori Stool Antigen (HpSA) Test Kit

Background: Helicobacter pylori has been recognized as principal cause of peptic ulcer and the risk factor responsible for gastric cancer. The infection is usually acquired in early childhood. Invasive techniques used for the diagnosis required endoscopy which is expensive. Thus we have aimed to evaluate easy to perform noninvasive H. pylori stool antigen (HpSA) test Kit. Materials and Methods: Total 50 children (37 female and 13 male) who have undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopy due to recurrent abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, gastritis and antral erythema were included in this study. The performance of HpSA test has been evaluated with reference to the result of endoscopy diagnostic procedure. Result: The HpSA was detected in 8 (16%) cases. The HpSA positivity was more in male (62.5%) as compare to females (37.5%). Diarrhea (50%) and abdominal pain (37.5%) were the most common symptoms of H. pylori. Gastritis (50%) was the most common clinical diagnostic and antral erythema (25%) was the most common endoscopic findings. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of HpSA test were as 100%, 97.6%, 87.5%, 100% and 98% respectively. Conclusion: Present study concludes that HpSA test is a non invasive and cost effective diagnostive test for H. pylori with high sensitivity and specificity.