Inverse association between Helicobacter pylori infection and childhood asthma in Greece: a case-control study

Christina Tsigalou; Theocharis G Konstantinidis; Dimitrios Cassimos; Alexandros Karvelas; Anastasia Grapsa; Aggelos Tsalkidis; Maria Panopoulou; Athanasios Tsakris

doi:10.18683/germs.2019.1174

Inverse association between Helicobacter pylori infection and childhood asthma in Greece: a case-control study

Germs. 2019 Dec 2;9(4):182-187. doi: 10.18683/germs.2019.1174. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Christina Tsigalou¹, Theocharis G Konstantinidis¹, Dimitrios Cassimos², Alexandros Karvelas³, Anastasia Grapsa³, Aggelos Tsalkidis², Maria Panopoulou¹, Athanasios Tsakris⁴

Affiliations

¹ MD, PhD Laboratory of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana 68100, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
² MD, PhD Department of Pediatrics, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana 68100, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
³ MD Laboratory of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana 68100, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
⁴ MD, PhD Laboratory of Microbiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 Mikris Asias, Goudi 115 27, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori infection is a well-established etiological factor for a variety of diseases such as peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. On the other hand, there is ongoing research suggesting that H. pylori might have a beneficial effect through a pivotal influence in the immunological response especially in asthma. The aim of the current case-control study was to evaluate the prevalence of H. pylori infection in asthmatic children.

Methods: Twenty-seven children with exacerbation of persistent asthma, aged 8.6±4.5 years (18 males, 9 females) and 54 age-sex-matched non-asthmatic controls were enrolled. Clinical examination and laboratory investigations were performed. Detection of H. pylori antigen (HpSA) in stool samples was performed by a commercial kit (bioNexia® kit, BioMérieux). Serum specific IgG antibodies were detected by a rapid chromatographic immunoassay (DIAsourceImmunoAssays). Serum IgE concentration was determined by electrochemiluminescence (ECL) (Roche Elecsys) and IgE levels ≥ 90 IU/mL were considered significantly elevated.

Results: In 3 (11.1%) of the 27 asthmatic children H. pylori infection (based on both detection of HpSA and specific IgG-Abs) was established, whereas as many as 16 of the 54 (29.6%) non-asthmatic ones were found infected (odds ratio 0.1; 95%CI, 0.039-0.305, p=0.026).

Conclusions: Our findings reveal an inverse relationship between H. pylori infection and children's persistent asthma in Greece.

Keywords: Asthma; Helicobacter pylori; children; persistent.

GERMS.