Gastric cancer in Colombia. I. Cancer risk and suspect environmental agents.

A case control study of patients discharged from hospitals revealed fourfold differences in geographic variation in stomach cancer risk within the Department of Narino (Colombia). Data from gastroscopic surveys of population groups, samples of water supplies, and urine and saliva in Narino also indicated a generally positive correlation among the following parameters: 1) gastric cancer risk, 2) prevalence of chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia, 3) nitrate content of well waters, and 4) nitrate excretion by the population. Urinary excretion reflected the ingestion of nitrates, and this implied a higher average intake of nitrates in the populations at high risk for stomach cancer. The Narino data could be construed as presumptive epidemiologic evidence for the role of nitrate availability in the etiology of stomach cancer.