Relationship between African Biogeographical Ancestry and Helicobacter pylori infection in children of a large Latin American urban center

Background and Aim The relationship between race/ethnicity and H pylori infection has been extensively reported, with a higher prevalence of infection observed in black individuals. Whether such differences are due to genetic factors underlying African ancestry remains to be clarified. In the present study, we evaluated the association between the proportion of individual African ancestry and H pylori infection in a sample of 1046 children living in a large Latin American urban center. Materials and Methods Estimation of individual biogeographical ancestry was based on 370,539 SNPs and performed using the ADMIXTURE software. Multivariate logistic regression models and mediation analysis considering the influence of previously recognized socioenvironmental risk factors to H pylori infection were performed. All analyses were conducted using the statistical package STATA v.14.0. Results Each 10% increase in the proportion of individual African ancestry was positively and independently associated with H pylori infection in our population (adjusted OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.10‐1.36, P