Abstract：Growth and development were assessed in 2 889 children aged 3 months〖KG-*3〗~16 years who underwent physical examination without symptoms in Changsha. Serum Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) IgG was detected by colloidal gold method. The results showed that a total of 2 889 children, 1 652 boys and 1 237 girls, were tested, among which 765(26.4%) were positive for H.pylori infection, including 432 (26.2%) boys and 333 (26.9%) girls. The prevalence rate of H.pylori in all age groups was 31.8% at the age of 3 months〖KG-*3〗~1 years old, 31.4% at the age of 1〖KG-*3〗~3 years old, 18.9% at the age of 3〖KG-*3〗~6 years old, and 15.4% above the age of 6 years old, respectively. Chisquare test and nonparametric test were used. There was no significant difference in H.pylori infection rate between the two groups of different genders (P>0.05). There was no difference in the infection rate of H.pylori between group 3 months〖KG-*3〗~1 years old and group 1 to 3 years old, and between group 3 to 6 years old and group above 6 years old. Conversely, there was significant difference 〖JP+1〗between the other two groups. There was no difference between the H.pylori positive and H.pylori negative groups in the body length or height (P>0.05).Nevertheless, the weights of the children in the H.pylori negative group were higher than those in the H.pylori positive group (P<0.001). There was also no difference in the incidence of malnutrition between the H.pylori positive and H.pylori negative groups, nor in the incidence of short stature (P>0.05). This indicates that there is no difference in the infection of H.pylori in different genders. The infection of H.pylori in children does not increase the incidence of severe growth disorders such as short stature and malnutrition, however, it still exerts certain levels of influence on the growth and development of children’s body length/height and weight.
