The frequency of Helicobacter Pylori infection in Beta Thalassemia major Patients with recurrent abdominal pain

Objective: to determine the frequency of helicobacter pylori (hp) seroprevalence and infection in ß thalassemia major(tm) patients and to compare between ß tm patients and controls both presenting with recurrent abdominal pain (rap). methodology: the study group included 62 tm and 41 healthy controls with rap. serum samples were examined for anti-hp antibody using an hpigg elisa. urea-breath test was applied to patients with positive hpigg by using 14c. in 36 of tm patients (58.1%) and 20 of healthy children (48.8%) hpigg (+) was stated. results: in terms of hpigg frequency, no difference was found between tm and control groups (p=0.354). the urea-breath test given to the tm patients and healthy children with hpigg (+), test in 30 tm patient (48.4%) and 16 healthy children (39%) the urea-breath test was found to be positive (p=0.34). with urea-breath test of tm patients, statistically a significant relationships were found between alt level, epigastric pain, periumbilical pain, splenectomy and age (respectively p=0.02, p=0.03, p=0.00, p=0.01). conclusion: helicobacter pylori in our developing country may be one of the causes of rap in tm patients as well as healthy children