Influence of behavioral and social factors on gastric cancer incidence and mortality

Background and Aim of Study: The significance of the risk factors, including behavioral and social characteristics of the patients, for the occurrence of stomach cancer is constantly increasing and largely determines the development and outcome of the disease. The aim of the study: to provide empirical data for the significance of behavioral and social factors on gastric cancer incidence and mortality. Material and Methods: Data from a study of gastric cancer patients (234 men and 144 women) examined at the Heidelberg University Clinic (Germany) were used. Risk factors, gastric cancer survival and mortality, factors of fatal outcome of gastric cancer patients were compared. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was used to quantitatively assess their influence. To analyze the possible statistical significance between different groups, we used Fisher’s exact test and chi-squared test for the relationship between categorical variables and Student’s t-test. The significance level (rejecting the null hypothesis) is p<0.05. Results: The most common risk factors are lack of physical activity, smoking, accompanying cardiovascular diseases, as well as emotional stress. Unhealthy lifestyle increases the risk by 56.8%. With a lower but significant percentage are overweight and alcohol abuse. We found the presence of emotional stress in 25.3% of patients with stomach cancer. Jobs with primary mental work and high stress level increase the probability of negative outcome. Mainly mental work is associated with about 8 times the risk of death compared to physical work. The presence of stress increases the lethal risk about 3.2 times. Conclusions: Risk factors related to healthy lifestyle of the patients, including mental health, play an important role in the development of stomach cancer. They largely determine the status, disease control, treatment, survival and mortality of gastric cancer patients.