title: Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of gastric cancer among the Korean population.
abstract: Helicobacter pylori infection has been associated with chronic atrophic gastritis, a precursor of gastric cancer. We conducted a prospective, case-controlled study to investigate whether H. pylori infection increases the risk of gastric cancer in Korean people with a high risk of gastric cancer. We enrolled 160 gastric cancer patients who were confirmed by endoscopic biopsy during 1994 and 160 age-matched control subjects with non-ulcer dyspepsia were compared to document the relationship between H. pylori infection and gastric cancer. The presence of H. pylori infection was determined by the rapid urease test and/or histology by Wright-Giemsa staining. The overall presence of H. pylori infection was 60% in gastric cancer patients and 51.9% in age-matched control subjects (odds ratio 1.39; 95% confidence interval 0.894-2.17; P = 0.143). Carcinomas of cardia, body and antrum were not associated with H. pylori infection (odds ratio 1.43, 1.69 and 1.29, respectively; 95% confidence interval, 0.271-7.52, 0.787-3.62 and 0.689-2.43, respectively; P = 0.178, 0.177 and 0.642, respectively) nor was the intestinal or diffuse type of cancer (odds ratio 1.39 and 1.40, respectively; 95% confidence interval 0.791-2.45 and 0.681-2.87, respectively; P = 0.250 and 0.835, respectively). Gender was not a risk for gastric cancer. In contrast to previous studies, these results do not provide evidence of H. pylori infection for gastric carcinogenesis in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yoo
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000382:microbiology; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology