Prevalence Of Atrophic Gastritis Research Articles

Age-related trends of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia in gastric carcinoma patients and in controls representing the population at large.

Age-related trends of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia (IM) were studied in 476 endoscopically examined and bioptically proved cases of gastric carcinoma (GC), 263 of which were of intestinal (IGC) and 213 of diffuse (DGC) types. Endoscopic biopsy specimens from the area around the tumour were available in all cases, and from the antrum and/or body distant from the tumour area in 238 cases. A representative sample of an endoscopically and bioptically examined Finnish population consisting of 431 subjects was used as control material. In patients with IGC the prevalence of atrophic gastritis in the gastric area affected by the tumour was higher and that of superficial gastritis lower than expected, and the age-group scores of gastritis and IM were situated above the age-dependent line of gastritis scores of controls in all age groups studied. This was seen to indicate a more rapid progression of gastritis in IGC patients than in the population at large. In the opposite area of the stomach, i.e. in the tumour-free area, the progression of gastritis and IM was virtually similar to that in controls. No such differences were seen with regard to DGC. It is concluded that IGC is dynamically closely linked to gastritis and IM, while in DGC no such relationship is demonstrable.

Atrophic chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia in gastric carcinoma. Comparison with a representative population sample.

The occurrence of chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia (IM) was studied in 257 patients with gastric carcinoma (GC). In all cases biopsies were available from the benign mucosal area adjacent to the tumor, and in 139 patients from the antrum and/or body mucosa outside the tumor. The results were compared with endoscopically and bioptically examined noncancer controls representing a large Finnish population sample. For every GC patient, a control subject was matched by age and sex. In addition, a mean age-adjusted score (AAS) of chronic gastritis, which expresses the progression of gastritis in GC patients as compared with that in the general population, was calculated for GC patients. The prevalences of chronic and atrophic gastritis in the antrum and body mucosa were similar in GC patients and controls when carcinoma cases were not more specifically classified according to histologic type or location of tumors. On the other hand, the location of the tumor showed a significant relation to gastritis: the progression of gastritis was more rapid (high mean AAS value) and the prevalence of atrophic gastritis was higher in the tumor-affected area (i.e., in the antrum in patients with antral [distal] tumors; in the body in patients with body [proximal] tumors), than in the general population, but were similar in the tumor-free area in both GC patients and controls. In the intestinal type of GC (IGC), the prevalence of chronic gastritis was higher and its progression was more rapid than in controls. In the diffuse type of GC (DGC), these correlations were less distinct. In GC patients, the IM adjacent to and outside the tumor area was significantly more common and extensive than in the corresponding area of controls, and a significant positive correlation was present between the location of the tumor and the distribution of IM. Like gastritis, the IM showed a closer relationship to IGC than to DGC. In all cases of GC and particularly of IGC, the antral mucosa tended to be more severely affected by gastritis and IM than the body mucosa, i.e., the prevailing type of gastritis found in this GC series was that morphologically corresponding to the so-called B-type of chronic gastritis.

Epidemiology and dynamics of gastritis in a representative sample of an Estonin urban population.

The epidemiology and dynamics of gastritis were studied in a representative sample of an urban population of Estonia. The sample consisted of 227 subjects 15-69 years old who were examined by direct-vision endoscopic biopsy, and the data were subjected to dynamic evaluation by stochastic principles. The prevalence of antral gastritis (64%) was similar to but that of body gastritis (62%) higher than that in other population samples studied by us. Correspondingly, the prevalence of atrophic antral and body gastritis was high: 38% and 37%, respectively. The prevalence of atrophic gastritis in the antrum and body increased significantly with age. On the other hand, no sex dependence of gastritis could be demonstrated. The prevalence of gastritis mainly affecting the body (32%) was significantly higher in the present than in the other Estonian sample (19%) studied by us. Complete loss of normal body glands was found in 14 subjects, and in 8 of these the antrum was normal or only slightly altered (type A gastritis). The prevalence of gastritis mainly affecting the body increased significantly with age, whereas that of gastritis mainly affecting the antrum decreased. Dynamic evaluation disclosed two basic dynamic patterns similar to those found in other population samples: the age-specific prevalences of gastritis increased with age according to the Poisson process, and gastritis started in the antrum at a younger age, but its progression was more rapid in the body mucosa. Dynamically, the chief finding of the sample was markedly more rapid progression of the body gastritis than in other samples, which explains the high prevalence of gastritis mainly affecting the body mucosa (type A gastritis) in the present series.