Correlation of Clinical Symptoms of Gastritis with H. pylori Occurrence in Children

Background: H. pylori (H. pylori) infection is a problem worldwide, which is the most common cause of chronic gastritis, and it is strongly associated with gastric ulcer disease and gastric cancer. H. pylori cause gastritis in infected children with unspecified clinical manifestation and continue having non-specific symptoms along with their life. Currently, not many studies have examined specific clinical symptoms in gastritis caused by H. pylori. Objective: To determine the correlation between clinical gastritis symptoms with H. pylori occurrence in children. Method: A Cross-Sectional study in 2-18 years old patients with clinical symptoms of gastritis who came to the outpatient clinic and treated at H. Adam Malik General Hospital Medan and Educational Network Hospital from December 2019 to May 2020. Patients with clinical symptoms of gastritis got the endoscopic procedure and Campylobacter-like organism (CLO) test. Result: 84 subjects were analyzed with 45 positive H. pylori and 39 negative H. pylori. There were no significant clinical symptoms differences between the H. pylori (+) group and the H. pylori (-) group. The most clinical symptom was recurrent abdominal pain, 26 patients (57.8%) in the H. pylori group (+) and 24 patients (61.5%) in the H. pylori group (-) (p-value = 0.726), vomiting 12 patients (26.7%) in the H. pylori group (+) and 5 patients (12.8%) in the H. pylori group (-) with p-value =0.115, haematemesis in 6 patients (13.3%) in the group H. pylori (+) and 7 patients (17.9%) in the H. pylori (-) group (p-value = 0.560) the least clinical symptoms were nausea in 1 patient (2.2%) in the H. pylori group (+) and 3 patients (7.7%) in the H. pylori (-) group with a p-value = 0.333 Conclusion: There is no significant correlation between clinical symptoms of gastritis and the occurrence of H. pylori infection in children.