High rates of advanced gastric cancer in community of Flushing, New York

Gastric cancer remains a major public health issue and is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 600,000 deaths annually. Over the last decades, there has been a steady decline in the incidence rates of gastric cancer. Furthermore, the incidence rates of gastric cancer in different parts of the country vary due to epidemiological and migration trends. Despite these trends, several studies that have continued to observe high rates of gastric cancer in populations that come from high-risk regions. The aim of the study was to describe the gastric cancer patients presenting NYHQ with an emphasis on those presenting at a young age and advanced disease. A subanalysis of the Asian population was also done, which is considered a high-risk group. Consecutive chart review of patients admitted with gastric cancer from January 2000 to August 2008 was extracted from the Oncology registry at NYHQ. Parameters that were evaluated were age, sex, race, type of gastric cancer, and stage of gastric cancer at initial presentation. The SAS/PC software package (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) was employed for statistical analyses. Four hundred fifty-seven patients were diagnosed with gastric cancer. Approximately one third of the total patients were younger than 60 years of age. Of the Asian patients, almost half the patients (48.8%) had advanced disease of which two thirds were under the age of 60 years. The rates of advanced gastric cancer observed at NYHQ are significant and comparable to recent epidemiology literature on rates in Asian populations in Asia. Communities, like Flushing, NY, may benefit from early detection of gastric cancers, similar to those instituted in Japan and Taiwan.