Prevalence of benign gastric polyps in a large pathology database.

AIMS: The aim of the study was to utilize a large national histopathology database for the analysis of the clinical epidemiology of gastric polyps.

METHODS

In a case-control study, 71,575 case subjects with gastric polyps were compared to 741,351 control subjects without gastric polyps.

RESULTS

Of all patients, 7.72% harboured fundic gland polyps, 1.79% gastric hyperplastic polyps, 0.09% gastric adenomas, and 0.06% type I neuroendocrine tumours. All types showed a clear-cut age-dependent rise. Reflux disease was significantly more common in patients with fundic gland polyps and significantly less common in patients with gastric adenomas or neuroendocrine tumours. Anaemia was more common in patients with gastric hyperplastic polyps, gastric adenomas, or neuroendocrine tumours. Helicobacter pylori was found significantly less frequently in all subjects with gastric polyps than in controls. Intestinal metaplasia and gastric atrophy were both more common in gastric adenoma and neuroendocrine tumours and less common in fundic gland polyps than in controls. Different polyp types tended to coincide in the same patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Gastric hyperplastic polyps appeared to mark the beginning of a progression from chronic gastritis to intestinal metaplasia and gastric atrophy, which leads to diminished gastric acid output and increased gastrin secretion. Gastric adenoma and neuroendocrine tumours reflect later stages of this process.