Stomach cancer risk

NEW YORK, June 26 (Praxis Press) Stomach cancer is thought to result from Helicobacter pylori infection, most common where socioeconomic conditions are poor. Leon and colleagues have found that mortality from stomach cancer among 65-74 year old men correlates with infant mortality in 27 countries and that the two factors are strongly related (see editorial, or paper). To perform the analysis the researchers obtained death rates from stomach cancer and other causes from a database of the World Health Organization. They also found that a poor environment during infancy and childhood may explain some of the similarities in the descriptive epidemiology of stroke and stomach cancer. Mortality from stomach cancer seems to be strongly associated with general socioeconomic conditions at the time of birth but not at the time of death.