TOPLINE

In the US, the incidence of noncardia gastric cancer was more than three times higher among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander populations than among non-Hispanic White populations. Incidence rates seen in non-Hispanic White adults aged 60-69 years occurred up to two decades earlier in several Asian groups.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a population-based analysis of the incidence of noncardia gastric cancer using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program registries in California and New York from 2010 to 2022.
• Gastric adenocarcinoma cases were identified using standard diagnostic codes; tumors were classified by anatomic subsite as cardia or noncardia, and the present analysis was restricted to cases of noncardia gastric cancer.
• A total of 35,375 cases of noncardia gastric cancer were included, including 8125 among non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander populations and 11,703 among Hispanic populations. Within Asian subgroups, case counts were approximately 3294 for Chinese, 1667 for Korean, 775 for Vietnamese, and 630 for Japanese populations.
• Age-specific incidence rates were calculated for the age groups 0-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 years or older across non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander populations.
• Researchers calculated rate ratios for Hispanic and Asian populations relative to non-Hispanic White populations within each age group and identified the age at which each group had incidence comparable to that observed among non-Hispanic White adults aged 60-69 years.

TAKEAWAY

• Overall age-adjusted incidence rates of noncardia gastric cancer varied substantially across racial and ethnic groups: 2.21 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic White populations, 7.55 per 100,000 among non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander populations, and 7.01 per 100,000 among Hispanic populations; rates in the latter two groups were more than three times higher than those in non-Hispanic White populations.
• Age-specific incidence of noncardia gastric cancer increased with age across all racial and ethnic groups and remained higher in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander populations than in non-Hispanic White populations.
• Within Asian populations, age-specific incidence varied substantially by ancestry. At ages 40-49 years, rates ranged from 3.17 per 100,000 among Japanese populations to 6.69 per 100,000 among Korean populations. Variation in incidence widened at older ages, with rates ranging from 5.37 to 24.58 per 100,000 at ages 50-59 years, 19.13 to 61.51 per 100,000 at ages 60-69 years, and 56.38 to 119.80 per 100,000 at ages 70 years or older.
• The incidence rates observed among non-Hispanic White adults aged 60-69 years (5.11 per 100,000) occurred earlier in Korean and Vietnamese populations at ages 40-49 years and in Chinese, Japanese, and Hispanic populations at ages 50-59 years, indicating that several higher-risk populations had comparable incidence rates one to two decades sooner.

IN PRACTICE

“Importantly, this analysis highlights differences not only in the magnitude of risk across populations but also in the timing of risk emergence, with several higher-risk groups reaching clinically meaningful incidence levels at younger ages than [non-Hispanic White] populations,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Chul S. Hyun, MD, PhD, MPH, Section of Digestive Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. It was published online in Gastro Hep Advances.

LIMITATIONS 

Registry data do not include information on Helicobacter pylori infection, nativity, time living in the US, or socioeconomic factors. These missing details may help explain differences in gastric cancer risk across populations. The study used large, diverse data from California and New York, limiting generalizability to other regions.

DISCLOSURES

The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest. This work received no external funding.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.