Heterogeneity in Susceptibility to Chronic Gastritis in Relatives of Gastric Cancer Patients with Different Histology of Carcinoma

The morphological state of gastric body mucosa was examined in 269 first-degree relatives of 64 index patients with gastric carcinoma and in 142 subjects selected at random. Gastric carcinoma was divided into three groups according to histological properties: carcinoma mucocellulare, carcinoma adenomatosum, and carcinoma anaplasticum. The state of gastric body mucosa was divided into five stages: normal, superficial gastritis, slight moderate, and severe atrophic gastritis. The results were subjected to the numerical analysis based on the stochastic theory. The term 'age-adjusted score' (AAS) employed therein defines the individual susceptiability to chronic gastritis. In terms of AAS, the material could be divided into 'high' and 'low' gastritis risk families. It appeared that the subjects belonging to carcinoma mucocellulare index patient families had a significantly higher susceptibility to chronic gastritis than the other relatives examined. These families were also significantly concentrated in the group of 'high risk' families. The heterogeneity of the relatives of gastric cancer patients as regards their gastritis risk should obviously be taken into account in future epidemiological studies. These findings constitute further justification of the genetic approach in studies concerning gastritis-gastric cancer relationship.