Chronic gastritis in pediatrics

Chronic gastritis is one of the most common diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. High rates of gastritis in children are associated with poor nutrition, physical inactivity, drug abuse, bad habits, a number of concomitant diseases, immune disorders, allergization of the body, and stress. Although a significant proportion in the structure of chronic gastritis is occupied by gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, many clinical forms are diagnosed that are not associated with the presence of a microbial pathogen in the gastric mucosa. The goal is to highlight the problem of chronic gastritis in children, including risk factors, etiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment. Materials and methods. To achieve these goals, a literature search was carried out in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The search depth did not exceed 5 years. Uninformative and duplicate articles were excluded. The final list of references included 42 articles. Results. In addition to traditional risk factors for adults, the incidence of chronic gastritis in children is influenced by artificial feeding, pathology of pregnancy and childbirth, respiratory infections, decreased mobility, and concomitant pathology. Helicobacter pylori infection is detected in 56% of children referred to a gastroenterologist for gastrointestinal symptoms. Manifestations of gastritis vary from asymptomatic to epigastric pain with dyspeptic symptoms. Conclusion. 1) Currently, up to 30-40% of children suffer from chronic gastritis. 2) Triple therapy regimens are traditionally used to eradicate Helicobacter pylori, but quadruple therapy is used in populations with high resistance to antimicrobial drugs. 3) In the treatment of eosinophilic gastritis, the drugs benralizumab and vedolizumab demonstrate high effectiveness, leading to depletion of the pool of eosinophils in the blood and tissues of the stomach, as well as clinical improvement. 4) Effective treatment for collagen gastritis has not yet been developed. The treatment regimen includes an elimination diet, proton pump inhibitors, and iron supplements.