title: Prevalence and risk factors of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia: a nationwide multicenter prospective study in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Atrophic gastritis (AG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM) are premalignant gastric lesions. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of endoscopic AG and IM and to document the risk factors for these lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 4,023 subjects were enrolled at eight hospitals in Korea. AG and IM were diagnosed by endoscopy. Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G antibodies were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalences of endoscopic AG and IM were 40.7% and 12.5%. In a multivariate analysis, the risk factors for AG were age groups of 40 to 59 years and >60 years, male sex, positive H. pylori serology, IM, and education below the college level (odds ratio [OR], 2.55, 5.00, 1.38, 1.41, 4.29, and 1.35, respectively). The risk factors for IM were age groups of 40 to 59 years and >60 years, male sex, positive H. pylori serology, AG, having relatives with gastric cancer, education below the college level and consumption of dairy products (OR, 3.16, 3.25, 1.88, 2.17, 3.68, 1.48, 1.47, and 1.40, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A nationwide survey regarding the prevalence of endoscopic AG and IM and their risk factors in Korea supports the hypothesis that endoscopic diagnosis of these premalignant lesions could be helpful to describe a group at high risk for gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Eun
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.forename: Hyun-Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dae-Seong
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Myung
authors.forename: Gwang-Ho
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Baik
authors.forename: Jeong-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Geom-Seog
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Gwang Ha
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Heung Up
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Nayoung
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Atrophic gastritis; Endoscopy; Intestinal metaplasia; Prevalence; Risk factors