Epidemiological trends of pre-malignant gastric lesions:A long-term nationwide study in the Netherlands

Background: The pre-malignant gastric lesions atrophic gastritis (AG), intestinal metaplasia (IM) and dysplasia (DYS) have long been identified as principal risk factors for gastric cancer. Objective: To evaluate epidemiological time trends of pre-malignant gastric lesions in the Netherlands. Methods: Patients with a first diagnosis of AG, IM or DYS between 1991 and 2005 were identified in the Dutch nationwide histopathology registry. The number of new diagnoses per year were evaluated relative to the total number of patients with a first gastric biopsy. Time trends were evaluated with age-per... Mehr ...