To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in the natural population in Dongfang City, Hainan Province.

A total of 698 residents in four towns of Dongfang City were selected by stratified random sampling method to conduct questionnaire survey and the ¹⁴C-urea breath test. The infection rate in the population was calculated. Univariate analysis was peformed to explore the potential influencing factors on H. pylori infection.

The overall infection rate among the population in Dongfang City was 42.55%. Univariate analysis showed that age, gender, ethnicity, and family size were significantly associated with H. pylori infection (P＜0.05), but marital status and area of residence were not associated with H. pylori infection (P＞0.05). Univariate analysis also showed that BMI, history of H. pylori infection, sharing utensils, washing hands before meals, history of H. pylori infection in family members, income, sleep status, eating regularly or not, frequency of eating meat, and having abdominal symptoms were significantly associated with H. pylori infection (P＜0.05), and that history of smoking, history of drinking alcohol, sharing beds, number of times of brushing teeth, washing hands after toileting, family history of gastric cancer, education level, drinking water source, work stress, sleep duration, eating at home or not, animal exposure, frequency of eating vegetables, eating pickled food or not, and eating betel nut or not were not associated with H. pylori infection (P＞0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, ethnicity, history of H. pylori infection, sharing utensils, history of H. pylori infection among family members, and sleep status were independent risk factors for H. pylori infection.

The prevalence of H. pylori infection in the natural population of Dongfang City is 42.55%, and the independent risk factors for H. pylori infection include gender, ethnicity, sharing utensils, and sleep status.