Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer in Spain.

Helicobacter pylori infection has a pathogenic role in the biologic process of gastric carcinoma and gastric MALT lymphoma. Geographical variations in both H. pylori infection and gastric carcinoma prevalence have been reported. The outcome of H. pylori chronic gastritis varies among individuals depending, in part, on the environmental factors. Atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia are risk factors of gastric carcinoma. The prevalence of gastric carcinoma in Spain differs from being high in the central areas and low around the Mediterranean coast. The different geographical distribution supports the hypothesis of the intervention of the environmental carcinogenic factors (food, H. pylori, soil chemical compounds etc.). The overall seroprevalence of H. pylori infection is higher in gastric carcinoma patients than in healthy control subjects of the same age. The seroprevalence of H. pylori is higher in Spaniards with the intestinal type of gastric carcinoma than in those with the diffuse type.