Rapidly decreasing prevalence of Helicobacter pylori among Japanese children and adolescents

Abstract

Background: The secular trend in the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection among children and adolescents in Japan has not been well documented.

Materials and methods: We reviewed all relevant literature published between 1991 and 2017, focusing on the relationship between the prevalence of H. pylori infection and birth year. Our literature search covered all journal articles, conference proceedings and meeting abstracts that reported the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Japanese subjects under 20 years of age.

Results: We examined the prevalence of H. pylori infection according to birth year on the basis of data points, which comprised 20,269 subjects of 81 groups. Three-coefficient logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the trend in H. pylori prevalence. The prevalence was approximately 10% in the individuals born in 1985, but it decreased to 3% in the individuals born in 2011. The plot of H. pylori prevalence against birth year clearly indicated a birth-cohort effect: the earlier the birth year, the higher the prevalence.

Conclusions: Our analysis revealed a rapidly decreasing prevalence of H. pylori infection among Japanese children and adolescents over the past three decades.

Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Japan; Prevalence.