Epidemiological features in young patients with gastric adenocarcinoma in Bursa

Abstract

Cases of gastric adenocarcinoma diagnosed at Uludaǧ University Medical School from 1986 through 1998 were analyzed. To facilitate comparison of clinical and pathological data between younger and older patients, each patient 40 years of age and younger was matched with patients over 40 year of age. 143 (10.3%) of 1381 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma were diagnosed in patients ≤ 40 years of age. The male to female (M/F) ratio was 1.6 in the younger group but 2.5 in the older age group. Presenting symptoms were similar in both groups with most patients complaining of abdominal pain and weight loss. Among the young cases with known staging 86% were Stage III and IV. The majority of cases were poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Young patients accounted for an unusually high proportion of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma diagnosed at our hospital. Gastric adenocarcinoma is common in our country. This may be due to the high incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in healthy subjects, genetic and other environmental factors in Turkey.