Age-related trends of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia in gastric carcinoma patients and in controls representing the population at large.

Age-related trends of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia (IM) were studied in 476 endoscopically examined and bioptically proved cases of gastric carcinoma (GC), 263 of which were of intestinal (IGC) and 213 of diffuse (DGC) types. Endoscopic biopsy specimens from the area around the tumour were available in all cases, and from the antrum and/or body distant from the tumour area in 238 cases. A representative sample of an endoscopically and bioptically examined Finnish population consisting of 431 subjects was used as control material. In patients with IGC the prevalence of atrophic gastritis in the gastric area affected by the tumour was higher and that of superficial gastritis lower than expected, and the age-group scores of gastritis and IM were situated above the age-dependent line of gastritis scores of controls in all age groups studied. This was seen to indicate a more rapid progression of gastritis in IGC patients than in the population at large. In the opposite area of the stomach, i.e. in the tumour-free area, the progression of gastritis and IM was virtually similar to that in controls. No such differences were seen with regard to DGC. It is concluded that IGC is dynamically closely linked to gastritis and IM, while in DGC no such relationship is demonstrable.