Personal history and family history as a predictor of gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma risk: a case-control study in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the risk of gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma for patients with a personal and/or family history of gastrointestinal diseases.

METHODS: The present study was a hospital-based case-control study conducted from 1992 to 1997 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, consisting of 176 cases and 579 controls matched by age, sex, and time of hospitalization. With informed oral consent, each subject completed a structured questionnaire during hospitalization regarding sociodemographic status, lifestyle, and health history.

RESULTS: The response rate was 98%. Adjusting for age, sex, years of schooling, socioeconomic status, body mass index (BMI), and smoking. Multivariate logistic regression models indicated a reduced effect for patients with a personal history of duodenal ulcer (DU) (odds ratio (OR) = 0.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5-0.9). No association was observed between the risk of gastric cardiac cancer and other forms of gastric disease. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that individuals with a family history of gastric cancer had a higher risk than those who lacked a family history (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.3-4.8).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide further evidence that individuals with DU history are less likely to have gastric cardiac cancer, and we infer that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection (85-95% DU patients infected with H. pylori) alone may not be sufficient to cause gastric cardiac adenocarcinoma. In addition, this study also suggests that a positive family history of gastric cancer may predict an increased risk for the disease.