This study evaluated the prevalence of
We assessed the spousal concurrence of
The study revealed that the concurrence rate of
Spousal transmission and concurrence of
A myriad of factors, including low socioeconomic status and poor hygiene, are associated with
Although parent-to-child transmission is the most common occurrence, conjugal transmission also plays a significant role in intra-familial transmission. An accumulating body of evidence indicates that
Despite the existing pool of evidence, it remains uncertain which specific factors are associated with the conjugal transmission of
We screened 4,583 individuals who underwent the Campylobacterlike organism (CLO) test under gastroscopy at Kosin University Gospel Hospital from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2019, to identify eligible participants. Among them, 4,319 individuals were excluded from the analysis: (1) individuals whose spouses did not have a record of undergoing a CLO test and those with a difference of 30 days or more in the dates that the person and their spouse performed their respective CLO tests (N=4,143); (2) individuals who had taken non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, proton pump inhibitors, antibiotics, bismuth compounds, and mucosal protective drugs that may affect the CLO test results within the last three months of testing (N=114); and (3) individuals who were
Following extensive screening, 264 participants (132 couples) were included in the final analysis.
The eligible participants were then classified into two groups: group A (the husband and wife were both
The requirement for informed consent from individual patients was waived because of the retrospective design of this study. All study protocols complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kosin University Medical School (KUGH-2020-05-003).
The participants underwent gastroscopy to confirm the presence of
Information on demographic variables (age), socioeconomic status (education and occupation), lifestyle habits (smoking status and alcohol consumption), and gastrointestinal symptoms were obtained using a self-administered questionnaire at the time of visit for their health check-up. Upon consideration of aspects such as educational qualification (high school and college or higher), occupation (manual workers: fishermen, armed forces personnel, technical workers, production workers, and construction workers; non-manual workers: housewives, managers, service and sales workers, religious workers, politicians, medical workers, transport workers, white-collar workers, education workers, and unemployed individuals), smoking status (non-smokers: never and ex-smokers; and smokers: current smokers), and alcohol consumption status, the participants were categorized into two groups. Participants were then asked to report any gastrointestinal symptoms (including nausea, epigastric soreness, indigestion) they were experiencing at the time of the examination. Body weight and height were measured automatically, and the body mass index was calculated as body mass in kilograms divided by the height in meters squared.
Lipid profiles (total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) were obtained using enzymatic methods after at least 8 hours of fasting. Data on hypertension and diabetes were obtained from the medical records. Finally, the endoscopic findings were determined by combining the gross findings of the operator and the histological results after specimen collection.
The chi-square test and Student t-test were performed to determine the demographic comparison between the concurrent and independent
The study showed that the concurrence rate of
We used multivariate logistic regression analysis to test the gastrointestinal symptoms and endoscopic findings associated with concurrent
This study showed that concurrent
The concurrence rate of
An active duodenal ulcer was associated with an increased risk of conjugal
Our study also showed that gastric erosion was inversely associated with concurrent
While concurrent
Overall, this study has several limitations. First, since this study was conducted as a cross-sectional study, caution must be exercised when drawing conclusions regarding the causality of exposure and outcome. Moreover, as the study population was solely composed of Korean patients who underwent health check-ups, the observed findings may not be generalizable to other populations. Third, there was no evaluation of the ribosomal RNA gene patterns of
In conclusion, spousal transmission and the concurrence of
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
Flow diagram for study participants. CLO test,
General characteristics of participants
Characteristic | Total participants (n=264) | Independence |
Concurrence |
P-value |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age (y) | 48.6±10.5 | 49.7±10.6 | 47.1±10.3 | 0.069 | |
Body mass index (kg/m2) | 23.8±3.4 | 22.6±2.8 | 25.0±3.6 | 0.595 | |
Education | 0.599 | ||||
High school | 22 (8.3) | 11 (7.2) | 11 (9.8) | ||
College or above | 242 (91.7) | 141 (92.8) | 101 (90.2) | ||
Occupation | 0.268 | ||||
Non-manual workers | 210 (79.5) | 125 (82.2) | 85 (75.9) | ||
Manual workers | 54 (20.5) | 27 (17.8) | 27 (24.1) | ||
Alcohol consumption | 1.000 | ||||
No | 101 (38.3) | 58 (38.2) | 43 (38.4) | ||
Yes | 163 (61.7) | 94 (61.8) | 69 (61.6) | ||
Smoking | 0.927 | ||||
Non-smokers | 168 (63.6) | 98 (64.5) | 70 (62.5) | ||
Smokers | 96 (36.4) | 54 (35.5) | 42 (37.5) | ||
Endoscopic findings | |||||
Gastric erosion | 155 (58.7) | 101 (66.5) | 54 (48.2) | 0.004 | |
Non-atropic gastritis | 103 (39.0) | 60 (39.5) | 43 (38.4) | 0.960 | |
Atropic gastritis | 142 (53.8) | 76 (50.0) | 66 (58.9) | 0.189 | |
Gastric polyp | 16 (6.1) | 9 (5.9) | 7 (6.3) | 1.000 | |
Reflux esophagitis | 75 (28.4) | 48 (31.6) | 27 (24.1) | 0.233 | |
Gastric benign tumor | 3 (1.1) | 1 (0.7) | 2 (1.8) | 0.789 | |
Gastric malignancy | 3 (1.1) | 1 (1.3) | 2 (1.8) | 1.000 | |
Gastric ulcer | 70 (26.5) | 43 (28.3) | 27 (24.1) | 0.535 | |
Active duodenal ulcer | 9 (3.4) | 2 (1.3) | 7 (6.3) | 0.066 | |
Duodenal ulcer scar | 164 (62.1) | 91 (59.9) | 73 (65.2) | 0.453 | |
Gastrointestinal symptoms | |||||
Nausea | 13 (4.9) | 9 (5.9) | 4 (3.6) | 0.559 | |
Epigastric soreness | 28 (10.6) | 17 (11.2) | 11 (9.8) | 0.878 | |
Indigestion | 44 (16.7) | 25 (16.5) | 19 (17.0) | 1.000 | |
Weight loss | 5 (1.9) | 3 (2.0) | 2 (1.8) | 1.000 | |
Concomitant diseases | |||||
Hypertension | 64 (24.2) | 48 (31.6) | 16 (14.3) | 0.263 | |
Diabetes mellitus | 32 (12.1) | 21 (13.8) | 11 (9.8) | 0.743 | |
Blood lab | |||||
Cholesterol (mg/dL) | 196.2±44.9 | 193.7±41.7 | 199.6±49.1 | 0.295 | |
Triglyceride (mg/dL) | 121.1±138.0 | 110.7±65.9 | 135.3±197.6 | 0.209 | |
HDL-C (mg/dL) | 54.7±14.5 | 54.5±15.1 | 55.0±13.7 | 0.747 | |
LDL-C (mg/dL) | 121.2±37.6 | 121.0±39.2 | 121.6±35.8 | 0.904 |
Values are presented as mean±standard deviation or number (%).
Calculated using Student T-test for continuous variable and chi-square test for categorical variable.
General factors associated with concurrent
Variable | Univariate analysis |
Multivariate analysis |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
OR (95% CI) | P-value |
OR (95% CI) | P-value |
||
Age (y) | 0.978 (0.956–1.002) | 0.070 | 0.975 (0.949–1.002) | 0.072 | |
Body mass index | 1.019 (0.950–1.094) | 0.594 | 1.011 (0.031–1.097) | 0.802 | |
Education | 0.454 | 0.132 | |||
High school | Reference | Reference | |||
College or above | 1.396 (0.583–3.345) | 2.108 (0.798–5.568) | |||
Occupation | 0.208 | 0.283 | |||
Non-manual workers | Reference | Reference | |||
Manual workers | 0.680 (0.373–1.240) | 0.683 (0.340–1.370) | |||
Alcohol consumption | 0.969 | 0.477 | |||
No | Reference | Reference | |||
Yes | 1.010 (0.611–1.669) | 1.265 (0.663–2.413) | |||
Smoking | 0.742 | 1.028 | |||
Non-smoker | Reference | Reference | |||
Smokers | 1.089 (0.656–1.807) | 1.028 (0.517–2.047) | |||
Hypertension | 0.202 | 0.211 | |||
No | Reference | Reference | |||
Yes | 1.537 (0.794–2.975) | 1.625 (0.760–3.475) | |||
Diabetes mellitus | 0.584 | 0.616 | |||
No | Reference | Reference | |||
Yes | 0.787 (0.334–1.855) | 0.787 (0.309–2.004) |
OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.
Calculated using single and multiple logistic regression.
Gastro-intestinal symptoms and endoscopic findings associated with concurrent
Variable | Multivariate analysis |
|
---|---|---|
Odds ratio (95% CI) | P-value |
|
Gastrointestinal symptoms | ||
Nausea | 0.589 (0.176–1.970) | 0.390 |
Epigastric soreness | 0.893 (0.399–1.999) | 0.784 |
Indigestion | 0.914 (0.466–1.793) | 0.795 |
Weight loss | 0.897 (0.146–5.508) | 0.907 |
Endoscopic findings | ||
Gastric erosion | 0.488 (0.295–0.808) | 0.005 |
Non-atropic gastritis | 1.208 (0.691–2.112) | 0.508 |
Atropic gastritis | 1.245 (0.731–2.123) | 0.420 |
Gastric polyp | 1.175 (0.418–3.306) | 0.759 |
Reflux esophagitis | 0.692 (0.397–1.205) | 0.193 |
Gastric benign tumor | 3.695 (0.320–42.657) | 0.295 |
Gastric malignancy | 1.588 (0.217–11.612) | 0.649 |
Gastric ulcer | 0.895 (0.504–1.589) | 0.704 |
Active duodenal ulcer | 6.501 (1.267–33.346) | 0.025 |
Duodenal ulcer scar | 1.392 (0.815–2.380) | 0.226 |
Adjusted for age.
CI, confidence interval.
Calculated using multiple logistic regression.