Epidemiology of Gastric Cancer-Changing Trends and Global Disparities

Abstract

Overall, the past century has seen a substantial decline in gastric cancer, attributable to decreases in risk factors such as H. pylori infection, tobacco smoking, and the intake of salt-preserved food. One potential preventive strategy for those at high risk is H. pylori eradication for infected subjects, but confirmation of this effect awaits longer follow-up. Obesity continues to advance and may cause increases in cardia cancer, particularly in Western populations, and careful monitoring of this outcome is warranted in both Western and Asian populations. These changes in gastric cancer epidemiology foreshadow a new era in gastric cancer control and warrant further monitoring of descriptive patterns and risk factors.

Keywords: epidemiology; gastric cancer; helicobacter pylori; risk factor; survival.

Figure 1

Most frequent cancers worldwide by incidence and mortality in both sexes in 1990 and 2022 [1,2].

Figure 2

Age-standardized rate (world) of cancers per 100,000 by incidence and mortality in both sexes in 2022 [1].

Figure 3

Age-standardized incidence rate (world) of gastric cancer per 100,000 in both sexes in 2022 [1]. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization/International Agency for Research on Cancer concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate borderlines for which there may not yet be full agreement.

Figure 4

Age-standardized (world) incidence rate of gastric cancer by UN Region in both sexes in 2022 [1].

Figure 5

Age-standardized incidence rate (world) of gastric cancer by country ranking in both sexes in 2022 [1].

Figure 6

Distribution of gastric cancer by UN region by absolute numbers in both sexes in 2022 [1].

Figure 7

Global distribution of age-standardized 5-year net survival for adults (15–99 years old) diagnosed with gastric cancer in 2010–2014 (both sexes) [3].

Figure 8

Subsite distribution of gastric cancer in males in 2013–2017 [4].

Figure 9

Declining trend in prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection by birth year (1908–2003) in a Japanese population. Meta-analysis of 170,752 Japanese [10].

Figure 10

Estimated number of new cases of gastric cancer from 2022 to 2045 in both sexes by UN Region [33].

Figure 11

Age-standardized gastric cancer incidence rates (ASR) in 2010 and predicted rates in 2035 in both sexes combined [34].