A case‐control study of dietary factors and stomach cancer risk in Poland

Abstract

We report results from a case-control study on stomach cancer conducted in 1980-81 in Cracow, Poland, where the risk of this disease is among the highest reported world-wide. One hundred and ten cases from a surgical clinic were matched by age and sex to the same number of controls from the same hospital. A matched series from a population-based health survey was also considered. After adjusting for residency, smoking and various food items, cases and hospital controls showed significant differences in consumption of fruits (RR rarely vs. daily: 3.24; 95% CI: 1.56-6.77), joint consumption of vegetables, salads and fruits (RR low vs. high: 4.23; 95% CI: 1.41-12.63), and consumption of protein-containing foods (RR low vs. high: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.08-0.61). Consumption of strong alcoholic beverages on an empty stomach (before breakfast) was associated with an RR of 2.09 (1.04-4.22). The findings are discussed in relation to the apparent urban/rural difference in stomach cancer incidence in Poland and the possible underlying etiological factors involved.

The epidemiology of gastric cancer

“…Other populations also show an excess in lower socioeconomic groups [33][34][35]. In South Australia, the mean annual age-sex standardized (world population) incidence per 100 000 (95% confidence limits) was 7.9 (7.3, 8.5) during 1977-1996 for the upper socioeconomic postcodes of the State capital, compared with 8.6 (8.2, 9.1) for the middle and 10.4 (9.5, 11.4) for the lower socioeconomic postcodes [5].…”

Alcohol consumption and gastric cancer in Mexico

“…specifically that vodka, with GC (Jedrychowski et al, 1986;Jedrychowski et al, 1993). The authors reported a three-fold increase in GC risk for those drinking vodka at least once a weak ( Jedrychowski et al, 1993), as well as for subjects drinking alcohol on an empty stomach, that is, before breakfast.…”

“…Heavy consumption of red wine (Hoey et al, 1981;Falcão et al, 1994) and the habit of drinking vodka ( Jedrychowski et al, 1986;Jedrychowski et al, 1993) have been shown to increase the risk for developing gastric cancer (GC) in case-control studies from France (Hoey et al, 1981), Portugal (Falcão et al, 1994), and Poland ( Jedrychowski et al, 1986;Jedrychowski et al, 1993), respectively. In the United States, total ethanol consumption was associated with an increased risk of cancer in the gastric body, cardia, and fundus (Wu-Williams et al, 1990).…”

Regional Risk Factors for Stomach Cancer in the FRG

“…Nevertheless, to make use of such additional informaIfthe four regions in 1910 can be described tion has its worth in that certain consistencies with current sted were mentioned in more than 65 % of knowledge and concepts may be observed. (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(19)(20)(21)(22). It has to be taken into account that cabbage, which differences compared with the other was consumed in higher amounts in the high-risk area, may usually be stored by processing to sauerkraut.…”

“…In order to identify specific risk factors, several epidemiological casecontrol studies for stomach cancer have either already been terminated or are underway in countries with differing stomach cancer mortality (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”