The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Gastric cancer is one of the main health issues in Lithuania. There were no epidemiological studies on it within the country. The objective of the study was to assess the risk of gastric cancer associated with smoking and alcohol consumption.

Methods: A case-control study included 379 gastric cancer cases and 1137 controls matched by gender and age (+5yr.). Ratio of case and controls was 1:3. A questionnaire used to collect information on risk factors of gastric cancer. Conditional logistic regression used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results: After controlling for use of alcohol, parents history on cancer, BMI at 20 yr of age, education level, residence and several food items that were associated with gastric cancer, current smoking (OR=1.33; 95% CI=0.8-2.18 vs. never, p for trend 0.043), duration of smoking (OR=1.71; 95% CI=0.87-3.36 for ≥41 yr vs. never, p for trend 0.042), cigarettes a day (OR=1.45; 95% CI=0.97-2.18 for 1-15 cigarettes vs. never), pack-years (OR=1.58; 95% CI=0.93-2.69 for ≥30 yr vs. never, p for trend 0,058) were not significantly associated with increased risk of gastric cancer. After adjustment for mentioned variables and smoking, standard alcohol units a year, duration of alcohol use were not related to significantly increased risk of the outcome. While use of wine once a week and more was related to higher risk of the disease (OR=2.35; 95% CI=1.16-4.77 vs. never). The findings support necessity of further studies on the role of smoking and alcohol consumption in the etiology of gastric cancer.