Forty years of practice against gastric cancer in Linqu County, a high-risk area of gastric cancer in China

Gastric cancer (GC) is a global public health burden, with nearly one million new cases diagnosed each year worldwide. To investigate the risk factors and the prevention strategies for GC, in the past 40 years, a series of epidemiological studies have been carried out in Linqu County, Shandong Province, a high-risk area of GC in China. Here, we briefly review the major efforts of 40-year practices against GC in Linqu County, particularly highlighting a case-control study to identify GC risk factors, a cohort study to determine the associations between the risk factors and the progression of gastric lesions, and an intervention trial to prevent GC development.