Helicobacter pylori among preschool children and their parents: Evidence of parent-child transmission

This study assessed the role of parental infection status in the transmissi on of Helicobacter pylori infection in a large population-based sample of p reschool-aged children. The subjects, who lived in Ulm, Germany, and in two nearby communities, were screened for school fitness between January and J uly 1997, Their H. pylori infection status was determined by C-13-urea brea th test. Of 1522 eligible children, 1221 (80.2%) participated in the study. Crude prevalence of H. pylori infection in children was 11.3% (95% confide nce interval [CI], 9.5-13.3) and 36.4% in their parents (95% CI, 33.5-39.4) , The crude odds ratio (OR) for H. pylori infection of children whose mothe rs were infected was 16.5 (95% CI, 8.9-30.8) and 7.9 after adjustment for p otential confounders (95% CI, 4.0-15.7). The crude OR if the child's father was infected was 7.8 (95% CI, 2.5-24.2) and 3.8 after adjustment for poten tial confounders (except maternal infection) (95% CI, 0.8-19.1). The result s suggest that infected parents, especially infected mothers, may have a ke y role in transmission of H. pylori within families.