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. 2024 Dec 2;33(12):1564-1570.
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-23-1392.

High Gastric Cancer Mortality and Years of Life Lost in Nicaragua: A Population-Based Study 1997 to 2012

Edgar M Peña-Galo  1   2 , Guillermo Palacios-Navarro  3 , Javier Pastora-Membreño  2 , Tatiana Torres-Herman  4 , Dalton A Norwood  5 , Eleazar E Montalvan-Sanchez  6 , Timothy Beasley  7 , Luis E Bravo  8 , Douglas R Morgan  4
Affiliations

High Gastric Cancer Mortality and Years of Life Lost in Nicaragua: A Population-Based Study 1997 to 2012

Edgar M Peña-Galo et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. .

Abstract

Background: Gastric adenocarcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality and leading infection-associated cancer. Gastric adenocarcinoma has striking geographic variability, with high incidence in East Asia and mountainous Latin America. Reliable cancer data and population-based cancer registries are lacking for the majority of low- and middle-income countries, including the Central American Four region (CA-4, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala).

Methods: Mortality data for Nicaragua were obtained from the highly rated Ministry of Health death registry. All the patients were diagnosed with gastric cancer between 1997 and 2012 (ICD-10 codes, C16.0-C16.9) and death due to any cause were included in the study. Data on variables such as sex, age (stratified by 5-year age groups), municipality, urban/rural, altitude, and year of death were analyzed.

Results: A total of 3,886 stomach cancer deaths were reported in Nicaragua between 1997 and 2012, of which 2,214 (56.9%) were male. The age-standardized mortality rates were 13.1 and 8.7 per 100,000 habitants for males and females, respectively, and without significant change during the study period (annual percentage change = -0.7, P = 0.2). An average of 17.9 years were lost per death, accounting for 67,964 years of life lost (YLL).

Conclusions: The burden of gastric cancer mortality is high in Nicaragua with a significantly elevated age-standardized mortality rate, YYL, and average YLL.

Impact: The projected increase in mortality portends the double cancer burden in northern Central America, with persistent infection-associated cancers and growing transition cancers (e.g., breast and colon cancers), which has implications for cancer control in Mesoamerica and US Latino populations. See related commentary by Riquelme and Abnet, p. 1550.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare that this research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Silhouette of the population pyramids of Nicaragua, 2000 and 2010.
Note: The 2000 population pyramid is more expansive with a broader base and narrower top. The population pyramid of 2010 has a smaller population at the bottom and a larger population at the top. For every 100 people aged under 15 there are 8.9 people aged over 65 in 2010 compared to 12.9 in 2020.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Joint point analysis of ASMR trends in Nicaragua 1997–2012.
Note: Figure showing the trend of Age-Standardized Mortality Rates (ASMR) for males and females from 1997 to 2011, with annual percentage change (APC) analysis.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Map representing the altitude and ASMR across different regions in Nicaragua.
Figure 3a. Altitude Note: Altitude is represented in mean altitude in meters over sea level. Figure 3b. Mortality Note: Mortality is represented in ASMR (Age Standardized Mortality Rates) per 100,000 habitants.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Map representing the altitude and ASMR across different regions in Nicaragua.
Figure 3a. Altitude Note: Altitude is represented in mean altitude in meters over sea level. Figure 3b. Mortality Note: Mortality is represented in ASMR (Age Standardized Mortality Rates) per 100,000 habitants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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