HISTAMINE-2 RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS AND GASTRIC-CANCER

We conducted a case-control study at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound to evaluate the relation between long-term histamine-2 (H-2) re ceptor antagonist use and gastric cancer. We identified 113 cases and 452 controls and estimated a relative risk (RR) of 2.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.0-3.9]. When we evaluated the effect of time-since- first-use, the RR estimates were 6.5, 1.2, and 1.0 for 2-4 years of us e, 5-9 years, and greater than or equal to 10 years, respectively. The data provide substantial evidence that long-term H-2 antagonist use i s not associated with gastric cancer.