Atrophic gastritis and the risk of incident colorectal cancer.
Previous studies evaluating whether risk factors for gastric cancer are also associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) have shown inconsistent results. We prospectively examined the association of atrophic gastritis, a pre-malignant condition for gastric cancer and long-term sequelae common to many exposure factors, and the risk of incident CRC.


METHODS
A total of 20,928 Finnish male smokers, aged 50-69, who were participants in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC) had serum pepsinogen I (SPGI) levels measured. Participants with low SPGI levels (< 25 microg/l; n = 1,665) were invited for gastroscopy. Of these, 1,059 (63.6%) participants underwent gastroscopy and atrophic gastritis was histologically confirmed in 1,006 (95.0%) participants. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the risk of incident CRC.


RESULTS
During a mean follow-up of 11.3 years (236,258 person-years), 425 incident CRCs were diagnosed. The incidence rates were 1.82, 1.48, and 1.82 per 1,000 person-years of follow-up for participants with normal SPGI (> or =25 microg/l), low SPGI, and histologically confirmed atrophic gastritis, respectively. Compared to subjects with normal SPGI, there was no increased risk of CRC among subjects with low SPGI (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.47-1.05) and among those with histologically confirmed atrophic gastritis (Adjusted HR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.55-1.34).


CONCLUSIONS
Atrophic gastritis is not associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer among male smokers.
Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, Office of Preventive Oncology, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA. laiyemoa@mail.nih.gov
Adeyinka O
AO
Laiyemo
Farin
F
Kamangar
Pamela M
PM
Marcus
Philip R
PR
Taylor
Jarmo
J
Virtamo
Demetrius
D
Albanes
Rachael Z
RZ
Stolzenberg-Solomon
D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005757:Gastritis, Atrophic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020116:Pepsinogen A / Q000097:blood; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
D020116:Pepsinogen A