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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Family-based Helicobacter pylori infection status and transmission pattern in central China, and its clinical implications for related disease prevention
Xue-Chun Yu, Qiao-Qiao Shao, Jing Ma, Miao Yu, Chen Zhang, Lei Lei, Yang Zhou, Wen-Chao Chen, Wei Zhang, Xin-Hui Fang, Yuan-Zeng Zhu, Gang Wu, Xue-Mei Wang, Shuang-Yin Han, Pei-Chun Sun, Song-Ze Ding
Xue-Chun Yu, Qiao-Qiao Shao, Jing Ma, Miao Yu, Lei Lei, Xin-Hui Fang, Shuang-Yin Han, Song-Ze Ding, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan Province, China
Chen Zhang, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Henan University People’s Hospital, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan Province, China
Yang Zhou, Wen-Chao Chen, Wei Zhang, Yuan-Zeng Zhu, Gang Wu, Pei-Chun Sun, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan Province, China
Xue-Mei Wang, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Ding SZ, Wu G, Wang XM, Han SY and Sun PC conceived and designed the study; Yu XC, Shao QQ, Zhang C and Yu M searched and screened related literature; Yu XC, Shao QQ, Ma J, Lei L and Zhou Y performed the data extraction and quality assessment; Yu XC, Zhou Y, Chen WC, Zhang W, Fang XH and Zhu YZ analyzed the data; Yu XC and Ding SZ wrote the manuscript; all authors critically revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. U1604174; Henan Provincial Government-Health and Family Planning Commission, No. 20170123 and No. SBGJ202002004; and Henan Provincial Government-Health and Family Planning Commission Research Innovative Talents Project, No. 51282.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 2021, No. 53.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Song-Ze Ding, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 7 Weiwu Road, Jin Shui District, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan Province, China. dingsongze@hotmail.com
Received: April 18, 2022
Peer-review started: April 18, 2022
First decision: May 29, 2022
Revised: June 9, 2022
Accepted: June 24, 2022
Article in press: June 24, 2022
Published online: July 28, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has characteristics of family cluster infection; however, its family-based infection status, related factors, and transmission pattern in central China have not been evaluated.
Research motivation
We evaluated family-based H. pylori infection status, related factors, and interfamilial transmission pattern in healthy households in central China, a high-risk area for H. pylori and gastric cancer (GC).
Research objectives
To investigate family-based H. pylori infection and identify a better approach for H. pylori infection control and related disease prevention.
Research methods
H. pylori infection was confirmed primarily by serum antibody arrays in 282 enrolled families, including a total of 772 family members. If patients previously underwent H. pylori eradication therapy, an additional 13C-urea breath test was performed to obtain their current infection status. Serum levels of gastrin and pepsinogens (PGs) were also analyzed.
Research results
In our study sample from the general public of central China, H. pylori infection rate was 54.27%. In 87.23% of healthy households, there was at least 1 H. pylori-infected person, and in 27.24% of these infected families, all members were infected. Type I H. pylori was the dominant strain in this geographic area. Among many variables, only individuals with a higher education level showed lower infection rates. H. pylori infection was also correlated with abnormal gastrin-17, PGI, and PGII levels and PGI/PGII ratio.
Research conclusions
H. pylori infection in healthy households is very common in central China, and poses an important health threat to uninfected family members. The intrafamilial infection status and patterns of transmission represent one important source of H. pylori spread, and indicate the urgent need for family-based infection control and related disease prevention.
Research perspectives
The results of this study provide new information on family-based H. pylori infection status in central China, and support the novel concept of family-based H. pylori infection control and management. This notion is also likely to benefit other H. pylori and GC prevalent areas.
