The effects of <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> eradication and development of immune-mediated disorder in children: a nationwide population-based study in Korea

Kim, You Ie; Kim, Joon Sung; Kim, Sang Yong; Kim, Byung-Wook

doi:2026.41.1.85

Korean J Intern Med > Volume 41(1); 2026 > Article

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Gastroenterology

Korean J Intern Med. 2026;41(1):85-94. doi: https://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2024.065

The effects of Helicobacter pylori eradication and development of immune-mediated disorder in children: a nationwide population-based study in Korea

You Ie Kim¹, Joon Sung Kim²

, Sang Yong Kim¹, and Byung-Wook Kim²

¹Department of Pediatrics, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Internal Medicine, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding Author: Joon Sung Kim , Tel: +82-32-280-5052, Fax: +82-2-280-5987, Email: kijoons@hanmail.net

Received: February 25, 2024; Revised: December 23, 2025;

Abstract

Background/Aims: Helicobacter pylori may protect against immune-mediated disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and asthma. This study evaluated whether eradication was associated with IBD and asthma in Korean children.
Methods: Data were collected from the Korean National Health Insurance information on patients younger than 18 years and without a prior diagnosis of IBD or asthma from January 2007 to September 2020. Patients confirmed with H. pylori infection were divided into the eradication and non-eradication group. We compared the incidence of IBD and asthma in infected patients with an age, and sex-matched control group.
Results: In total, 979,663 patients were selected based on the inclusion criteria and 2,779 patients were included based on the exclusion criteria. The occurrence of IBD in infected patients was statistically significant (p < 0.05) but there was no association of infection with asthma. There was no association with eradication and the development of IBD and asthma. The infected group had a shorter duration till diagnosis of IBD than the control group.
Conclusions: Our study found H. pylori infection to be associated with the development of IBD in children. However, eradication does not increase IBD and asthma in children.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori ; Inflammatory bowel disease ; Asthma ; Child