By david Liu, PHD

Saturday Aug 25, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Tobacco smoking may increase risk of death from gastric cancer or stomach cancer in patients who have received curative surgical resection, according to a new study in Annals of Surgical Oncology.  It is only a possibility because the study is not a trial and a causal relation can't be ascertained.

The study led by E.C. Smyth of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and colleagues showed that gastric cancer patients who have received curative surgical resection were about 50 percent more likely to die if they were current or previous tobacco smokers, compared to those who had never smoked.

The authors said tobacco use has been known to increase the risk of developing gastric cancer. The current study was meant to examine the association between a history of tobacco use and risk of cancer-specific death after gastric cancer surgery.

The death-tobacco link was based on analysis of data from 699 eligible patients at a mean age of 70 years who received surgery for gastric cancer between 1995 and 2009 and were registered in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Gastric Cancer prospective surgical database.  These patients had not received pre-postoperative chemo or radiotherapy.  Fifty nine percent were current or previous tobacco users.  

Smoking was found correlated with gastroesophageal junction/cardia tumors.  Multivariate analysis that considered tumor stage, age, performance status, diabetes, sex and tumor location showed that tobacco users were 43 percent more likely to die from gastric cancer, 46 percent more likely to be unable to have a 5-year disease-free survival and 48 percent more likely to die from any cause, compared to non-tobacco users.  Both heavy (>20 pack-years) and light (<20 pack-years) tobacco use was significantly associated with decreased odds of any type of survival.

The researchers concluded "Smoking history appears to be an independent risk factor for death from gastric cancer in patients who have undergone curative surgical resection."

In addition to tobacco use, many other factors can increase the risk of gastric cancer. They include Helicobacter pylori infection, stomach lymphoma, Diet (using smoked foods, salted fish and meat, and pickled vegetables), obesity, previous stomach surgery, pernicious anemia, Menetrier disease (hypertrophic gastropathy), some types of stomach polyps, Epstein-Barr virus infection, certain occupations (working in the coal, metal, and rubber industries), and immune deficiency.

Gastric or stomach cancer is often deadly.  But many cases can be prevented by following a healthy lifestyle including a healthy diet.