A one‐step immune‐chromatographic Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test for children was quick, consistent, reliable and specific

Aim This French study assessed a quick, noninvasive, immuno‐chromatographic, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) stool antigen test for detecting infections in children. Methods We enrolled 158 children, with a median age of 8.5 years (range eight months to 17 years), with digestive symptoms suggesting upper gastrointestinal tract disease. Upper digestive endoscopy was performed with gastric biopsy specimens for histology, a rapid urease test, culture test and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction. The H. pylori stool antigen test was performed twice for each child and the results were compared to the reference method. Results The reference methods showed that 23 (14.6%) of the 158 children tested were H. pylori positive. The H. pylori stool antigen test showed 91.3% sensitivity, with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 86.9–95.6 and 97% specificity (95% CI 94.3–99.6), 30.84 positive likelihood ratio and 0.09 negative likelihood ratio. The test accuracy was 96.2% (95% CI 93.2–99.1). The two blinded independent observers produced identical H. pylori stool antigen test results and the Kappa coefficient for the H. pylori stool antigen test was one. Conclusion The H. pylori stool antigen test was found to be a consistent, reliable, quick and specific test for detecting the H. pylori infection in children.