Time trends of intestinal and diffuse types of gastric cancer in Norway

Samples of gastric cancer from three time periods (1940–1944, 1952–1953 and 1964–1966) were drawn from material of the Norwegian Radium Hospital, representing specimens collected from different hospitals throughout the country. The cases were diagnosed as belonging to the “intestinal”, “diffuse” or “other” category according to the classification of Laurén (1965). It was found that the three types showed about the same relative frequency from the first to the second time period, the intestinal one being the most common. However, from the second to the third time period the intestinal type decreased very markedly, in particular in the youngest age group. Figures are presented showing that for both males and females the death rate from gastric cancer fell from the early 1930s to the middle of the 1960s, but that this trend stopped temporarily during the latter half of the 1940s. It is concluded that this could well be due to dietary changes during the 1940–1945 war, influencing mainly the intestinal type. Such changes are probably not related to protein deficiency or lack of Vitamin A, but they could depend on factors in cereals, milk or fat. It is concluded that the long‐term, pronounced decline of gastric cancer death observed in Norway for several decades may soon begin to level of, leaving a “hard core” of very slowly decreasing “diffuse” and “other” types.