Objective: To describe and compare the demographic and social characteristics as well as lifestyles of patients with gastric cancer against patients with other important gastric disorders, who attended at main reference health services in Lima, Peru.
Methods: Case control study, matched by sex and age + 2 years, applying a questionnaire to 96 cases with gastric cancer, and to 96 controls from September 2001 to November 2007.
Results: There were no significant differences about ethnicity; marital status; exposure to minerals, wood, and metal dusts; tobacco and alcohol; red meat consumption; salt addition; food temperature. 87, 5% of the control group had lesions in the gastric antrum, and 73% of cases group had a tubular adenocarcinoma (56%) in the gastric antrum. There was no family history of cancer in 85% patients of cases group and 59% of controls, (with significant difference). There were significant differences in low scholarship level of cases, as well as for their mothers and fathers (OR 3.75, 3.9, and 3.49 respectively), fruit or vegetables intake, milk or cheese consumption (minus of once a day) (OR 2, 3, 2, 57 and 2, 9 respectively), type of fuel for cooking (firewood, charcoal, and kerosene OR 5, 25), lack of use of refrigerator (OR 8, 4).
Conclusions: The profile of a gastric cancer patient was to proceed from the Andean zone (high altitude +3000 meters over sea level) and jungle, low education level (low socioeconomic level), low consumption of fruits, vegetables and milk, use of firewood, charcoal, or kerosene to cook, and no use of refrigerator. The most frequent histological diagnosis in the case group was tubular adenocarcinoma.