Risk factors for the gastric cardia cancer： a case-control study in Fujian Province

AIM: The incidence of gastric cardia cancer has greatlyincreased in the past 2-3 decades, however, the risk factorsfor the disease are still not clearly understood. Theinvestigations among Chinese population on the risk factorsof gastric cardia cancer were also scarcely reported. Wetherefore conducted a case-control study in Fujian province,China, to investigate the potential risk and protective factorsof this disease.METHODS: 191 cardia and 190 non-cardia gastric cancercases, and a total of 222 control cases were included in thisstudy. Standard questionnaires were used in collectingepidemiological factors and the data were then analyzed bythe unconditional logistic regression model.RESULTS: As the factors such as age, gender, smoking,alcohol consumption, and family history of gastric cancerwere controlled, a multivariable analysis was conducted,which revealed that there was a significant correlationbetween the dietary habits such as irregular meal, over andfast eating, and the gastric cardia cancer with the odds ratios(ORs) of 4.2 (95 % confidence interval: 2.3-7.7), 4.7 (2.1-10.8), and 2.7 (1.3-5.3) respectively. Other correlations werealso observed between the gastric cardia cancer and theconsumption of salty fish or pickled vegetable, smoking,and the family cancer history with the ORs of 5.5 (1.4-19.5),1.8 (1.0-3.0), 2.1 (1.3-3.5), and 3.8 (2.3-6.2) respectively.In contrast, the negative correlations were found existingbetween the intake of fresh vegetables and fruits, the useof refrigerator, and the gastric cardia cancer, with the ORsof 0.4 (0.2-0.9), 0.2 (0.1-0.5), and 0.2 (0.1-0.4),respectively. However, dietary habits were associated lesswith non-cardia gastric cancer compared with its cardiacounterpart.CONCLUSION: Dietary habits might be one of the riskfactors for the cardia carcinogenesis among Chinesepopulation.