Background
Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with gastric cancer; thus, early diagnosis and treatment are crucial. Since H. pylori infection in adolescents or young adults shows few symptoms, screening tests are necessary for this population. In this study, the accuracy of the rapid urine-H. pylori antibody (u-HpAb) test was evaluated and compared to that of urine and serum H. pylori enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (u-HpELISA and s-HpELISA, respectively) in junior high school students.
Methods
All 1,225 students attending the junior high schools in Sasayama city were invited to participate in this study. Urine and blood samples were assayed for anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin G antibodies, and rapid u-HpAb was performed by three investigators independently. When the judgment of all investigators was in accordance, a âpositiveâ or ânegativeâ result was defined. Discrepant judgment was defined as an âundeterminedâ result.
Results
In total, 187 students participated in this study and provided both urine and blood samples. Three students showed undetermined results with rapid u-HpAb. Excluding these results, the positivity rate of rapid u-HpAb was 3.3 % (6⁄184), whereas that for u-HpELISA and s-HpELISA was 4.8 % (10⁄187) and 5.9 % (11⁄187), respectively. Using s-HpELISA and u-HpELISA as the standards, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of rapid u-HpAb were 85.7%, 100 %, 100 %, and 99.4 %, respectively when excluding the undetermined results of rapid u-HpAb.
Conclusions
The rapid urine-HpAb test had excellent specificity but relatively low sensitivity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.