Lack of association of Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence and gastric cancer in a population with low gastric cancer incidence.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have suggested that infection with Helicobacter pylori is associated with an increased risk of gastric adenocarcinoma.

METHODS

We examined the sera of 111 Caucasian patients with histologically confirmed gastric cancer (36 with cancer of the cardia, 70 with cancer of the body or antrum, and 5 with stump carcinomas after Billroth-II procedures) and 111 age-matched controls with colorectal carcinomas for the presence of H. pylori IgG antibodies by enzyme-linked immunoassay.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of H. pylori infection was 58.6% (65 of 111) in gastric cancer patients as compared with 50.5% (56 of 111) in matched control subjects (odds ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 2.36). Carcinomas of the cardia were not linked to H. pylori infection (odds ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.65 to 2.46), nor diffuse or intestinal-type carcinomas (odds ratios, 1.79 and 1.0; 95% confidence intervals, 0.69 to 4.67 and 0.34 to 2.91, respectively). Age, sex, and height of the IgG immune response did not affect risk.

CONCLUSIONS

In contrast to previous results, these data do not provide evidence that the contribution of H. pylori infection to the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer is of major significance in a population with low gastric cancer rates and with high socioeconomic status.