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Associations between H. pylori, asthma, related diseases in children differed across ethnic groups
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Helicobacter pylori positivity was associated with physician-diagnosed asthma in children up to age 6 years, but had an inverse association with ever wheezing and eczema in children of non-Western ethnicity, according to data presented at UEG Week.
“In young children, the association between H. pylori and asthma or related disease may differ across ethnic groups,” Wouter J. den Hollander, MD, from the department of gastroenterology and the Generation R Study Group at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, told Healio.com/Gastroenterology. “Why these trends appear opposite is not clear so far, but may be due to differences in the gut microbiome composition.”
Wouter J. den Hollander
Aiming to evaluate the association between H. pylori colonization and asthma or related diseases in children, den Hollander and colleagues performed a population-based prospective study of 2,683 Western and 1,155 non-Western children (mean age, 6.1 years) followed from early pregnancy. Of the 9% who were H. pylori positive, 30% were cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) positive. Ever wheezing occurred in 63.3% of H. pylori-positive children compared with 56% of H. pylori-negative children (P=.07), physician-diagnosed asthma occurred in 11.2% vs. 6.6% (P=.01) and eczema occurred in 27% vs. 22.2% (P=.07). Multivariate analysis revealed an association between H. pylori positivity and asthma (OR=1.63; 95% CI, 1.02-2.61) but not ever wheezing (OR=1.02; 95% CI, 0.85-1.23) or eczema (OR=1.06; 95% CI, 0.79-1.41). An interaction between H. pylori and ethnicity was observed for wheezing (P<.001) and eczema (P=.006); positive status was inversely associated with ever wheezing (OR=0.66; 95% CI, 0.48-0.91) and eczema (OR=0.64; 95% CI, 0.41-1) in non-Western children only, mainly explained by CagA-positive strains.
“H. pylori colonization is negatively associated with both wheezing and eczema in children of non-Western ethnicity, with the strongest inverse effect found for CagA-positive strains,” the researchers wrote. “In contrast, in all children, H. pylori colonization was positively associated with physician-diagnosed asthma to the age of 6 years. Trends in the Western and non-Western children appear opposite.” – by Adam Leitenberger
For more information:
den Hollander WJ. Abstract OP101. Presented at: UEG Week; Oct. 18-22, 2014; Vienna.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.