EFFICACY OF FECAL ANTIGEN TEST IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION IN CHILDREN

Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is based on invasive and non-invasive methods. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of stool antigen test in comparison with endoscopy and histology for detection of Helicobacter pylori in children.
Materials & Methods: During four years, 233 children with gastrointestinal problems such as recurrent abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, and failure to thrive referring to Ali-Asghar hospital enrolled in the study. Data was gathered and analyzed using SPSS.
Results: Mean age of children was 7.28 years (range 1-15 years). One hundred twenty five children (53.6%) were female. In stool antigen test, positive and negative results were found in 134 (57.5%) and 99 (42.5%) patients, respectively. Also, pathology results revealed positive HP in 172 (73.8%) cases and negative findings in 61 (26.2%) cases. In present study, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of fecal antigen test were 60.4%, 50%, 77, 6% and 31.3%, respectively.
Conclusion: Results of this study showed that the fecal helicobacter pylori antigen test as a non-invasive method has low sensitivity and specificity in comparison to biopsy