New observations regarding Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer in Mongolia.

Background: The incidence and mortality of gastric cancer in Mongolia is among the highest in the world.

Methods: This was a case-control study in which upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, gastric histology, Helicobacter pylori testing, and risk factor questionnaires were obtained. Histologic subtypes were determined by Lauren's classification.

Results: We enrolled 45 gastric cancer and 108 non-gastric cancer patients. Gastric cancers were located in upper part of stomach in 53.3%, main gastric body in 37.8%, and lower part of stomach in 8.9%. The majority (60%) were diffuse type, followed by intestinal type (36.7%) and indeterminate type (3.3%). H. pylori infections were CagA positive in 100% with cancer vs 81% without cancer (P = .02). The majority of CagA was non-East Asian type (95% with cancer and 94.1% without cancer). Cancer patients had typically related with excessive use of salt, hot beverages, tobacco smoking, and low ingestion of fruits.

Conclusion: The characteristic topography of gastric cancer in Mongolia being in the gastric corpus differed from East Asian countries and was more similar to western countries. The risk factors for gastric cancer in Mongolia were similar to other high-risk areas (ie, H. pylori infection, excessive use of salt, tobacco smoking, and low ingestion of fruits).