H. pylori and Gastric Cancer in Japan: A Population Study

Home>
Specialties>
Gastroenterology>
Summary and Comment

H. pylori and Gastric Cancer in Japan: A Population Study

Helicobacter pylori has been associated with a higher rate of adenocarcinoma of the stomach in several nested case-control studies, but prospective studies that have examined the degree of risk imparted by H. pylori are lacking. To assess this association, investigators in Hisayama, Japan, prospectively followed 2602 adults for 9 years.

At study entry, 71.5 percent of men and 62.5 percent of women were seropositive for H. pylori. After 9 years, the age-adjusted rate of gastric cancer was 5.3 cases per 1000 person-years in men and 1.3 cases per 1000 person years in women. H. pylori seropositivity increased the risk for gastric cancer in men (relative risk, 2.59) but not in women (RR, 0.99). Multivariate analysis failed to identify any confounding factors that affected the results. The authors concluded that H. pylori infection is associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer in men, but not in women, and calculated that 40 percent of gastric cancers in men could be attributed to H. pylori infection.

Comment: This is the first prospective study to confirm the results of prior nested case-control studies that showed a relation between H. pylori infection and gastric cancer. The absence of any effect in women and a somewhat lower relative risk in men differ from the results of prior studies. This may be due to the short duration of follow-up (9 years) and the fact that fewer women than men were infected with H. pylori and developed cancer. The higher rate of gastric cancer in Japan suggests that additional factors may have affected the study's outcome.

— DJ Bjorkman

Published in Journal Watch Gastroenterology August 14, 2000

Citation(s):

Yamagata H et al. Impact of Helicobacter pylori infection on gastric cancer incidence in a general Japanese population. Arch Intern Med 2000 Jul 10 160 1962-1968.

Original article (Subscription may be required)
Medline abstract (Free)

Your Remark:

Reader Remarks are intended to encourage lively discussion of clinical topics with your peers in the medical community. We ask that you keep your remarks to a reasonable length, and we reserve the right to withhold publication of remarks that do not meet this standard.

The editors of Journal Watch may respond to Reader Remarks, but we cannot promise to respond to a particular remark.

Remark subject:*

Your remark:*

Fields marked with an * are required.

Name as you'd like it to appear:
First & middle initial:*

Last:*

Email address (will not
be published):*

Professional specialty:*

Place of work (optional):

Submitting a comment indicates you have read and agreed to the remark guidelines and declare:*

No competing interests

Or, the following competing interests (for example, financial stakes or professional relationships):

PRIVACY: We will not use your email address, submitted for a comment, for any other purpose nor sell, rent, or share your e-mail address with any third parties. Please see our Privacy Policy.

CLEAR erases anything you've added in any part of the form. CONTINUE allows you to check your entire post (and edit it if necessary) before submitting.

To ensure that your Reader Remark is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.