title: Incidence trends and mortality rates of gastric cancer in Israel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gastric cancer is the fourth most common malignancy worldwide. The incidence trends and mortality rates of gastric cancer in Israel have not been studied in depth. The aim of our study was to try and investigate the aforementioned issues in Israel in different ethnic groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study is based on the data of The Israel National Cancer Registry and The Central Bureau of Statistics. Published data from these two institutes were collected, summarized, and analyzed in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Around 650 new cases of gastric cancer are diagnosed yearly in Israel. While we noticed a decline during the period 1990-2007 in the incidence in the Jewish population (13.6-8.9 and 6.75-5.42 cases per 100,000 in Jewish men and women, respectively), an increase in the Arab population was noticed (7.7-10.2 and 3.7-4.2 cases per 100,000 in men and women, respectively). Age-adjusted mortality rates per 10,000 cases of gastric cancer decreased significantly, from 7.21 in 1990 to 5.46 in 2007, in the total population. The 5-year relative survival showed a slight increase for both men and women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a difference in the incidence and outcome of gastric cancer between the Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. The grim prognosis of gastric cancer patients in Israel is probably due to the advanced stage at which gastric cancer is diagnosed in Israel.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgery, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin 70300, Israel.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lavy
authors.forename: Andronik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapiev
authors.forename: Natan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Poluksht
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halevy
authors.forename: Lital
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keinan-Boker
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality