title: Gastric cancer in Gwynedd. Possible links with bracken.
abstract: One hundred and one histologically confirmed gastric cancer patients in Gwynedd, North Wales, were matched by sex, age and social class to two hospital inpatients without cancer. Seventy-seven of the gastric cancer cases were also matched, using the same criteria, to a patient with a confirmed cancer of a different site (excluding oesophagus). A questionnaire was used to determine bracken exposure and source of water in childhood. Residential and occupational histories were obtained and the consumption of buttermilk, a potential vector of the bracken carcinogens, was quantified. Comparison of the gastric cancer patients with the non-cancer controls indicated that exposure to bracken in childhood had an increased risk (RR = 2.34, P less than 0.001) compared to no exposure and that length of residence in Gwynedd was associated with increased risk (RR = 2.46 for durations of 61 years and over, P less than 0.01). Consumption of buttermilk in childhood and adulthood was attended by increased risk (RR = 1.61 and 1.86 respectively, the latter being statistically significant, P less than 0.05). Neither the residence effect nor consumption of buttermilk in adulthood remained significant when considered in a multivariate analysis with bracken exposure.
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital, Bangor.
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Galpin
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Whitaker
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Whitaker
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kassab
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk / Q000009:adverse effects; D010944:Plants; D013170:Spores; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D014852:Wales