Prevalence of gastric precancerous lesions among chronic dyspeptic patients and related common risk factors.

Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Progression of gastric cancer follows several steps from gastritis to atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and finally cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastric precancerous lesions and related common risk factors in a group of chronic dyspeptic patients. A total of 688 chronic dyspeptic patients older than 40 years of age were consecutively enrolled. The exclusion criteria were pregnancy, and a history of gastric cancer and gastric surgery. A questionnaire including demographic and clinical data, smoking habits, alcohol use, NSAIDs, and regular aspirin use was completed for all patients. Upper endoscopy and gastric biopsy were performed for all of the participants according to the standard protocols. Upper endoscopy was performed for all of the participants and biopsies were taken according to the biopsy protocol. The specimens were examined in a blinded manner by two expert gastrointestinal pathologists. The mean age of the participants was 57.87±9.10 years; there were 361 (52.5%) women. The prevalence of intestinal metaplasia, gastric atrophy, dysplasia, and positive Helicobacter pylori infection was 19.8, 12.8, 3.2%, and 64.5%, respectively. Age and H. pylori infection showed a significant association with pathological findings (odds ratio=3.10, 95% confidence interval: 1.91-4.72 and odds ratio=3.56, 95% confidence interval: 2.30-5.53, respectively). According to the high prevalence of precancerous lesions in patients with chronic dyspepsia who were older than 40 years of age, upper endoscopy and gastric mapping sampling for the detection of these lesions is recommended in intermediate-risk to high-risk areas.