Background & Aims: Given that H. pylori infection increases the inflammation of the stomach and duodenum, stomach and duodenal ulcer and gastric adenocarcinoma risk in children, the main purpose in this study was to compare the accuracy of serology and rapid urease test in diagnostic of H. Pylori in children.

Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was a diagnostic test evaluation that was conducted on all children aged between 2 to 15 years old who referred to Shahid Motahari hospital due to abdominal pain and had positive serology for H. pylori. After obtaining the consent of parents, the patients underwent upper endoscopy. Biopsies were taken for rapid urease test and histopathology. Histopathology was considered as the gold standard test. Finally, the data were processed and analyzed by SPSS 21 software. Chi-square test was used for comparison of variables.

Results: From 173 patients with positive serology, according to the results of histopathology, 100 children were infected with H. pylori while 73 children were not. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value percentS were for IgG84, 63, 75, 74, for IgM54, 60, 65, 48 and for RUT 87, 78, 84, 81, respectively.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, among H. pylori infection diagnostic test, the rapid urease test (RUT) had the highest sensitivity and specificity but anti-H. pylori IgM had low sensitivity and specificity.

SOURCE: URMIA MED J 2016: 27(1): 9 ISSN: 1027-3727