Gastric cancer among Asian Americans

Abstract

Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. It remains the eighth most commonly diagnosed cancer among Asian American men and women in the United States (USA) with considerable heterogeneity in incidence rates across Asian American subgroups, highest in Korean American men. Because of the lack of routine screening for gastric cancer in the USA, patients are usually diagnosed at a late stage because of symptoms. While infection with Helicobacter pylori is the primary risk factor for gastric cancer, only a small proportion of those infected go on to develop gastric cancer, which means that better understanding of the interactions between H. pylori infection and other lifestyle factors (e.g., cigarette smoking, dietary factors) are needed to better characterize persons who eventually develop gastric cancer. Treatment benefits can vary by ethnicity and region of the world, possibly due to host-related factors. Continued efforts to improve treatment outcome by considering race/ethnicity, country of birth, and other parameters should be a priority.