Chronic atrophic gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection among Japanese Americans in Seattle

Gastric cancer is still a major cause of mortality due to cancer worldwide. The most common type of gastric cancer is intestinal type carcinoma, which usually occurs in stomachs containing chronic atrophic gastritis. individu als with chronic atrophic gastritis are considered to be at increased risk for developing intestinal type carcinoma of the stomach. To examine the ass ociation between chronic atrophic gastritis and other gastric cancer risk f actors, a cross-sectional study was conducted using serum samples and quest ionnaire information collected from 776 persons of full Japanese ancestry i n the greater Seattle area in 1994. The presence of chronic atrophic gastri tis and Helicobacter pylori infection was determined by measurement of seru m pepsinogen levels and H. pylori antibodies, respectively. Based on multip le logistic regression, the significant predictors of chronic atrophic gast ritis were age over 50 years, H. pylori infection, and 20 years or more liv ed in Japan. Alcohol consumption, smoking, prior peptic ulcer, and history of gastric cancer in parents were not significantly associated with chronic atrophic gastritis. The results imply that H. pylori infection since earli er life and other unknown exposure factors in Japan might have played an im portant role in the development of chronic atrophic gastritis.