Helicobacter pylori and type 1 diabetes mellitus in children

Background: Helicobacter pylori is a recognized gastroduodenal pathogen and H. pylori infection is one of the most common bacterial infections, usually acquired during childhood. However, diabetes mellitus is characterized by an increased susceptibility to infections. Methods: We compared the prevalence of H. pylori infection as well as cytotoxin- associated gene A - CagA - and vacuolating cytotoxin gene A- VacA - positivity in 103 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and in 236 nondiabetic children. We used a novel Recombinant ImmunoBlot Assay- Strip (RIBA SIA) with individual band for whole H. pylori lysate and recombinant CagA and VacA. Results: H. pylori-positive subjects, both diabetics and controls, were significantly older than negative subjects. In the whole group of diabetic patients the prevalence of each of the three reactivities was higher than in control subjects, reaching significance only for lysate. Only diabetic patients over 12 years of age, with a longer disease duration, had a higher prevalence of positive cases, although not significantly so. Conclusions: In the first few years of disease, diabetic children do not differ from the nondiabetic population. Subsequently they show an H. pylori seroprevalence tendentially higher than that of controls of the same age. Therefore, H. pylori infection acquired in childhood and lasting several years, could be one of the causes of chronic atrophic gastritis, which is more frequent in longstanding diabetes mellitus.