Eradication of Helicobacter pylori increases childhood growth and serum acylated ghrelin levels

Table 3 The differences of the baseline serum acylated ghrelin levels between the children with body weight above and below the cut-off point selected based on the different age ranges of children (mean ± SD)

	H. pylori infection		Non-H. pylori infection
Age ranges (yr)	4-7	8-12	4-7	8-12
BW cut-off point, kg (n)	26 (21)	36 (32)	26 (47)	36 (87)
Baseline serum acylated ghrelin (pg/mL)
Above or equal to the BW cut-off point	51.3 ± 38.6	51.8 ± 40.9	78.2 ± 12.0	85.9 ± 26.9
Below the BW cut-off point	47.8 ± 36.5	23.8 ± 22.1	82.5 ± 17.2	83.8 ± 31.2
1P value	0.93	0.02	0.31	0.78
z score of BW cut-off point (n)	0.5 (18)	0.5 (35)	0.5 (28)	0.5 (106)
Baseline serum acylated ghrelin (pg/mL)
Above or equal to the z score of BW cut-off point	53.4 ± 40.6	46.8 ± 38.9	81.3 ± 14.1	81.7 ± 19.7
Below the z score of BW cut-off point	45.9 ± 33.6	27.3 ± 26.5	81.9 ± 16.6	89.6 ± 36.4
1P value	0.68	0.09	0.91	0.15

¹The P value indicated the difference of serum acylated ghrelin levels between the children with body weight (BW) and z score of BW above or equal to the cut-off point and those with below the cut-off point within the same age ranges, analyzed by the Student’s t test. The BW (z score of BW) cut-off point was determined by the mean (median) of non-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infected children within the same age ranges.