Utilidad del diagnóstico serológico de la infección por Helicobacter pylori en niños

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonizes 50% of the world´s population. The infection is acquired during infancy; an age group of non-invasive diagnostic methods need to be urgently validated. Our aim was to review the literature and evaluate the usefulness of serological diagnosis with special emphasis on the paediatric population. The relevance of these methods has been focused in epidemiological studies. In adult populations, the determination of antibodies against H. pylori exhibits a sensitivity and specificity of over 90%, being comparable to other invasive endoscopy based methods. In the paediatric population, the performance of serological testing has been less successful, with lower sensitivity and specificity. This underlies the need to establish more precise cut off values, based on local populations, where studies using antibodies as diagnostic markers of H. pylori are planned.