Evaluation of endoscopic and histological findings in Helicobacter pylori-positive Japanese young adults

Background and Aim: Many studies have shown that Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers and gastric carcinoma in adults. However, little is known about these associations in the younger population. The aim of this study was to clarify endoscopic and histological findings in H. pylori‐positive young adults. Methods: Two hundred consecutive outpatients younger than 29 years old undergoing esophago‐gastroduodenal endoscopy at four hospitals between 2001 and 2002 were eligible for this study. At endoscopy, three biopsy specimens were obtained from the mid‐antrum, the angulus and the mid‐corpus. Endoscopic and histological interpretations were based on the updated Sydney System. H. pylori infection was determined by histology and serology. Results: The rates of H. pylori infection were 1.2% (1/86) in normal, 95.8% (46/48) in gastritis, 97.8% (45/46) in duodenal ulcers, 100% (17/17) in gastric ulcers, and 100% (3/3) in gastric carcinomas. Endoscopic findings in 112 H. pylori‐positive patients were 25 normal (22.3%), 38 atrophy (33.9%), 18 erosion (16.1%), and 31 nodularity (27.7%). Histological findings of H. pylori‐positive patients in the anturm revealed mononuclear cell and neutrophil infiltration in 100%, and atrophy in 27.7%. Histological findings of H. pylori‐positive patients in the corpus revealed mononuclear cell infiltration in 75%, neutrophil infiltration in 60.7%, and atrophy in 28.6%. Conclusions: The study shows that H. pylori infection is strongly associated with chronic gastritis and peptic ulcers, and that histological corpus gastritis was found with high frequency in Japanese young adults.