Epidemiology of gastric cancer: global trends, risk factors and prevention

Gastric cancer remains one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide, especially among older males. Based on GLOBOCAN 2018 data, stomach cancer is the 5 th most common neoplasm and the 3 rd most deadly cancer, with an estimated 783,000 deaths in 2018. Gastric cancer incidence and mortality are highly variable by region and highly dependent on diet and Helicobacter pylori infection. While strides in preventing and treating H. pylori infection have decreased the overall incidence of gastric cancer, they have also contributed to an increase in the incidence of cardia gastric cancer, a rare subtype of the neoplasm that has grown 7-fold in the past decades. A better understanding of the etiology and risk…