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Growth slowing after acute Helicobacter pylori infection is age-dependent
Douglas J Passaro1, David N Taylor, Robert H Gilman
1Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, California, USA. doug@uic.edu
Objective:
Most infections occur during childhood, but the health effects of childhood infection are poorly understood. We investigated whether growth decreases in the 2 months after acute seroconversion.
Methods:
We performed a nested case-control study among children 6 months to 12 years of age in a community on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Health interviews were completed daily. Anthropometric measurements were taken monthly. Sera were collected every 4 months and tested for immunoglobulin G. Two-month height and weight gains of seroconverters were compared with gains of sex, age, and size-matched seronegative controls.
Results:
In the 2 months after infection, 26 seroconverters gained a median of 24% less weight than 26 matched controls (interquartile range, 63% less to 21% more). In multivariate analysis, infection attenuated weight gain only among children aged 2 years or older. This decrease was not explained by increased diarrhea.
Conclusions:
seroconversion is associated with a slowing of weight gain in children aged 2 years or older. Reasons for this finding merit additional study.