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Seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Urban and Rural Vietnam

Department of Clinical Microbiology, MTC,¹ Department of Medicine, Unit of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden,³ National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam²

Received 24 March 2004/ Returned for modification 12 August 2004/ Accepted 6 October 2004

Helicobacter pylori-associated diseases, such as peptic ulcer and gastric cancer, are common in Vietnam, but the prevalence of the infection is largely unknown. A validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for seroepidemiology with 971 samples from the general population, ages 0 to 88 years, with 546 samples from an urban population (Hanoi), and with 425 samples from a poor, rural province (Hatay). The overall seroprevalence of the infection was 746 per 1,000, with a prevalence of 788 per 1,000 in Hanoi and 692 per 1,000 in Hatay (P = 0.0007). The risk for infection in the rural area of Hatay was 40% lower than in the urban population of Hanoi, with the odds ratio being 0.59 (95% confidence interval, 0.43 to 0.81). The study shows that the prevalence of H. pylori infection is high in Vietnam and especially high in a large urban area, such as the city of Hanoi.