Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Neighborhood socio-economic characteristics, African ancestry, and Helicobacter pylori sero-prevalence

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The authors recently reported high Helicobacter pylori sero-prevalence among African-Americans of high African ancestry. We sought to determine whether neighborhood-level socio-economic characteristics are associated with H. pylori prevalence and whether this helps explain the link between African ancestry and H. pylori.

Methods

Antibodies to H. pylori proteins were assessed in the serum of 336 African-American and 329 white Southern Community Cohort Study participants. Prevalence odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for CagA+ and CagA− H. pylori were calculated using polytomous logistic regression in relation to 10 Census block group-level measures of socio-economic status.

Results

After adjusting for individual-level characteristics, three neighborhood-level factors were significantly inversely related to CagA+ H. pylori: percent completed high school; median house values; and percent employed (comparing highest to lowest tertile, OR, 0.47, 95 % CI, 0.26–0.85; OR, 0.56, 95 % CI, 0.32–0.99; and OR, 0.59, 95 % CI, 0.34–1.03, respectively). However, accounting for these measures did not attenuate the association between African ancestry and CagA+ H. pylori, with African-Americans of low, medium, and high African ancestry maintaining two-, seven-, and ninefold increased odds, respectively, compared to whites.

Conclusions

Neighborhood-level measures of education, employment, and house values are associated with CagA+ H. pylori sero-prevalence, but do not explain the persistent strong relationship between African ancestry level and CagA+ H. pylori. The findings suggest that neighborhood socio-economic status can help to highlight high-risk areas for prevention and screening efforts and that the link between African ancestry and H. pylori may have a biological basis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Marshall BJ (1995) The 1995 Albert Lasker Medical Research Award. Helicobacter pylori. The etiologic agent for peptic ulcer. JAMA 274(13):1064–1066

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Brown LM (2000) Helicobacter pylori: epidemiology and routes of transmission. Epidemiol Rev 22(2):283–297

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. McQuillan GM, Kruszon-Moran D, Kottiri BJ, Curtin LR, Lucas JW, Kington RS (2004) Racial and ethnic differences in the seroprevalence of 6 infectious diseases in the United States: data from NHANES III, 1988–1994. Am J Public Health 94(11):1952–1958

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Epplein M, Signorello LB, Zheng W, Peek RM Jr, Michel A, Williams SM, Pawlita M, Correa P, Cai Q, Blot WJ (2011) Race, African ancestry, and Helicobacter pylori infection in a low-income United States population. Cancer Epi Biomarkers Prev 20(5):826–834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Moayyedi P, Axon AT, Feltbower R, Duffett S, Crocombe W, Braunholtz D, Richards ID, Dowell AC, Forman D (2002) Relation of adult lifestyle and socioeconomic factors to the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection. Int J Epidemiol 31(3):624–631

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Aiello AE, Diez-Roux A, Noone AM, Ranjit N, Cushman M, Tsai MY, Szklo M (2009) Socioeconomic and psychosocial gradients in cardiovascular pathogen burden and immune response: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Brain Behav Immun 23(5):663–671

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Zajacova A, Dowd JB, Aiello AE (2009) Socioeconomic and race/ethnic patterns in persistent infection burden among US adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 64(2):272–279

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Diez Roux AV, Merkin SS, Arnett D, Chambless L, Massing M, Nieto FJ, Sorlie P, Szklo M, Tyroler HA, Watson RL (2001) Neighborhood of residence and incidence of coronary heart disease. N Engl J Med 345(2):99–106

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Borrell LN, Diez Roux AV, Rose K, Catellier D, Clark BL (2004) Neighbourhood characteristics and mortality in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Int J Epidemiol 33(2):398–407

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Leal C, Bean K, Thomas F, Chaix B (2011) Are associations between neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and body mass index or waist circumference based on model extrapolations? Epidemiology 22(5):694–703

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Brown LM, Thomas TL, Ma JL, Chang YS, You WC, Liu WD, Zhang L, Pee D, Gail MH (2002) Helicobacter pylori infection in rural China: demographic, lifestyle and environmental factors. Int J Epidemiol 31(3):638–645

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Signorello LB, Hargreaves MK, Steinwandel MD, Zheng W, Cai Q, Schlundt DG, Buchowski MS, Arnold CW, McLaughlin JK, Blot WJ (2005) Southern community cohort study: establishing a cohort to investigate health disparities. J Natl Med Assoc 97(7):972–979

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Pritchard JK, Stephens M, Donnelly P (2000) Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data. Genetics 155(2):945–959

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Waterboer T, Sehr P, Michael KM, Franceschi S, Nieland JD, Joos TO, Templin MF, Pawlita M (2005) Multiplex human papillomavirus serology based on in situ-purified glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins. Clin Chem 51(10):1845–1853

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Waterboer T, Sehr P, Pawlita M (2006) Suppression of non-specific binding in serological Luminex assays. J Immunol Methods 309(1–2):200–204

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Michel A, Waterboer T, Kist M, Pawlita M (2009) Helicobacter pylori multiplex serology. Helicobacter 14(6):525–535

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Esri (2005) StreetMap USA in Esri Data and Maps [machine-readable datafiles]

  18. US Census Bureau (2008) 2008 TIGER/Line Shapefiles [machine-readable data files]

  19. Signorello LB, Williams SM, Zheng W, Smith JR, Long J, Cai Q, Hargreaves MK, Hollis BW, Blot WJ (2010) Blood vitamin D levels in relation to genetic estimation of African ancestry. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 19(9):2325–2331

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Diez Roux AV, Aiello AE (2005) Multilevel analysis of infectious diseases. J Infect Dis 191(Suppl 1):S25–S33

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Rosenstock SJ, Andersen LP, Rosenstock CV, Bonnevie O, Jorgensen T (1996) Socioeconomic factors in Helicobacter pylori infection among Danish adults. Am J Public Health 86(11):1539–1544

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Russo A, Eboli M, Pizzetti P, Di Felice G, Ravagnani F, Spinelli P, Hotz AM, Notti P, Maconi G, Franceschi S, Ferrari D, Bertario L (1999) Determinants of Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence among Italian blood donors. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 11(8):867–873

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Santos IS, Boccio J, Santos AS, Valle NC, Halal CS, Bachilli MC, Lopes RD (2005) Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and associated factors among adults in Southern Brazil: a population-based cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 5:118

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Naja F, Kreiger N, Sullivan T (2007) Helicobacter pylori infection in Ontario: prevalence and risk factors. Can J Gastroenterol 21(8):501–506

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Naous A, Al-Tannir M, Naja Z, Ziade F, El-Rajab M (2007) Fecoprevalence and determinants of Helicobacter pylori infection among asymptomatic children in Lebanon. J Med Liban 55(3):138–144

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Zaterka S, Eisig JN, Chinzon D, Rothstein W (2007) Factors related to Helicobacter pylori prevalence in an adult population in Brazil. Helicobacter 12(1):82–88

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Shi R, Xu S, Zhang H, Ding Y, Sun G, Huang X, Chen X, Li X, Yan Z, Zhang G (2008) Prevalence and risk factors for Helicobacter pylori infection in Chinese populations. Helicobacter 13(2):157–165

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Petersen KL, Marsland AL, Flory J, Votruba-Drzal E, Muldoon MF, Manuck SB (2008) Community socioeconomic status is associated with circulating interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein. Psychosom Med 70(6):646–652

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Pollitt RA, Kaufman JS, Rose KM, Diez-Roux AV, Zeng D, Heiss G (2008) Cumulative life course and adult socioeconomic status and markers of inflammation in adulthood. J Epidemiol Community Health 62(6):484–491

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Abnet CC, Kamangar F, Dawsey SM, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Albanes D, Pietinen P, Virtamo J, Taylor PR (2005) Tooth loss is associated with increased risk of gastric non-cardia adenocarcinoma in a cohort of Finnish smokers. Scand J Gastroenterol 40(6):681–687

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Salazar CR, Francois F, Li Y, Corby P, Hays R, Leung C, Bedi S, Segers S, Queiroz E, Sun J, Wang B, Ho H, Craig R, Cruz GD, Blaser MJ, Perez–Perez G, Hayes RB, Dasanayake A, Pei Z, Chen Y (2012) Association between oral health and gastric precancerous lesions. Carcinogenesis 33(2):399–403

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Pearce MS, Steele JG, Campbell DI, Thomas JE (2005) Tooth loss and Helicobacter pylori seropositivity: the Newcastle Thousand Families Cohort Study at age 49–51 years. Helicobacter 10(1):90–94

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Dodd KW, Blaser MJ, Virtamo J, Taylor PR, Albanes D (2003) Tooth loss, pancreatic cancer, and Helicobacter pylori. Am J Clin Nutr 78(1):176–181

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Quillian L (2003) How long are exposures to poor neighborhoods? The long-term dynamics of entry and exit from poor neighborhoods. Popul Res Policy Rev 22(3):221–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. McNulty SL, Mole BM, Dailidiene D, Segal I, Ally R, Mistry R, Secka O, Adegbola RA, Thomas JE, Lenarcic EM, Peek RM Jr, Berg DE, Forsyth MH (2004) Novel 180- and 480-base-pair insertions in African and African-American strains of Helicobacter pylori. J Clin Microbiol 42(12):5658–5663

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Yamaoka Y, Reddy R, Graham DY (2010) Helicobacter pylori virulence factor genotypes in children in the United States: clues about genotype and outcome relationships. J Clin Microbiol 48(7):2550–2551

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Malaty HM, Evans DG, Evans DJ Jr, Graham DY (1992) Helicobacter pylori in Hispanics: comparison with blacks and whites of similar age and socioeconomic class. Gastroenterology 103(3):813–816

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Mr. Michael Mumma for his oversight of the geocoding process and derivation of neighborhood-level variables for the SCCS. The Southern Community Cohort Study is funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (R01 CA092447) and by supplemental American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding (3R01 CA092447-08S1). Analysis of the samples in this study was funded by an American Cancer Society—Institutional Research Grant to Vanderbilt University (ACS–IRG-58-009-50). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 2525 West End Avenue, 6th floor, Nashville, TN, 37203-1738, USA

    Meira Epplein, Wei Zheng, William J. Blot & Lisa B. Signorello

  2. International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD, USA

    Sarah S. Cohen, Jennifer S. Sonderman, William J. Blot & Lisa B. Signorello

  3. Division of Human Genomics, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Scott M. Williams

Authors
  1. Meira Epplein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sarah S. Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jennifer S. Sonderman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wei Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Scott M. Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. William J. Blot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lisa B. Signorello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meira Epplein.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Epplein, M., Cohen, S.S., Sonderman, J.S. et al. Neighborhood socio-economic characteristics, African ancestry, and Helicobacter pylori sero-prevalence. Cancer Causes Control 23, 897–906 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9960-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-9960-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation