[Weight, educational achievement, basic sanitation, alcoholism, smoking and eating habit in patients with gastric cancer].
BACKGROUND
About 35% of the cancer patients are involved in factors coming from the diet and others like alcohol, smoking, sunlight, chemical agents and infections caused by virus. The stomach cancer is the second cause of cancer in the world with 9.9 % of all diagnosis and about 12.1 % of death cases.


OBJECTIVE
Evaluate the body weight, educational achievement, basic sanitation, smoking, alcoholism and eating habit among patients with gastric cancer and a control group.


METHODS
Seventy patients with gastric cancer were paired with 70 subjects without cancer. Data on the weight and height, educational attainment, basic sanitation, smoking, alcoholism and eating habits of the patients were collected from the clinical records and from interviews.


RESULTS
Forty two patients were men, the mean age were 60 years old. The actual weight and body mass index of the patients were smaller when compared to the controls. Within the group of patients with gastric cancer, 21 never attended school, and for those who attended, 55% did not finish the elementary school. Among the patient group, 32.9% of them lived in housing with basic sanitation and 37.1% with electricity, against 68.6% of the controls, and 58.6% of the patients lived in rural area, against only 7.1% of the controls. Among the test group, 65.7% of the patients were smokers, whereas in the control group, 44.3% were smokers. In addition, there was also difference in the duration of smoking habit. Alcoholism was also more frequent in the cancer group (44% vs 19%). Food rich in salt, condiments, nitrates, saturated fat, complex carbohydrates, refined sugar and fried salted food had been more used by gastric cancer patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The patients with gastric cancer presented with: less weight, low quality of life as indicated by lower or no access to basic sanitation, electricity and schooling, lived predominantly in rural area, high incidence of alcohol intake and higher intake of high fat foods and industrialized foods.
Magalhães
Lidiane Pereira
LP
Oshima
Celina Tizuko Fujiyama
CT
Souza
Lessileia Gomes
LG
Lima
Jacqueline Miranda de
JM
Carvalho
Luciana de
Ld
Forones
Nora Manoukian
NM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D001835:Body Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012307:Risk Factors; D012499:Sanitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery