Epidemiology of Helicobacter Pylori Infection among Randomly Selected subjets from Koreans Urban Community

Although Helicobacter pylori exists worldwide, no large population studies has been conducted on the epidemiology of the infection in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine the seroprevalence and determinants of H. pylori infection in an urban community in Korea.

From 22,803 residents, 1000 were randomly recruited from the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th clusters of Mokdong apartment complex by multi-stage sampling. In 742 subjects(74.2% of the initial sample) H. pylori specific IgG antibodies were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A questionnaire asking about monthly income, number of family members, education, and other social background was distributed to all subjects. In addition, each subject was measured for height and weight.

The overall seroprevalence of H. pylori infection was 48.0%. H. pylori prevalence significantly increased with age from 41.9% to 54.9%. The prevalence of infection seemed to increase with males, more family members and smoking. However, the occupation, body mass index, education, generation, alcohol consumption and monthly income of the patient were not significantly related to H. pylori seroprevalence.

This study is a large cross-sectional, randomly sampled epidemiologic study of H. pylori infection in an urban community in Korea. The seroprevalence of H. pylori infection was 48.0%. Age was discovered to be the primary risk factor with no other determinants such as the sex and sociodemography being associated to the infection of H. pylori.