A 62-year-old man presents with dark tarry stools and light-headedness. Upper endoscopy finds an ulcerating lesion in his stomach and biopsies confirm gastric cancer. Which of the following is a risk factor for carcinoma of the stomach?
Low dietary vitamin C, and high salt and nitrate consumption predispose to gastric cancer, as does ingestion of smoked foods. Smoking is a risk factor, but alcohol is not. H. pylori is another important risk factor, since it causes gastritis that eventually leads to chronic atrophic gastritis, metaplasia, dysplasia, and then carcinoma.
Helicobacter pylori infection
high socioeconomic status
high protein diet
high alcohol consumption
Oncology