Fifteen-year effects of Helicobacter pylori, garlic, and vitamin treatments on gastric cancer incidence and mortality

J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012 Mar 21;104(6):488-92. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djs003. Epub 2012 Jan 23.

Abstract

In the Shandong Intervention Trial, 2 weeks of antibiotic treatment for Helicobacter pylori reduced the prevalence of precancerous gastric lesions, whereas 7.3 years of oral supplementation with garlic extract and oil (garlic treatment) or vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium (vitamin treatment) did not. Here we report 14.7-year follow-up for gastric cancer incidence and cause-specific mortality among 3365 randomly assigned subjects in this masked factorial placebo-controlled trial. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of gastric cancer incidence, and the Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the relative hazard of cause-specific mortality. All statistical tests were two-sided. Gastric cancer was diagnosed in 3.0% of subjects who received H pylori treatment and in 4.6% of those who received placebo (odds ratio = 0.61, 95% confidence interval = 0.38 to 0.96, P = .032). Gastric cancer deaths occurred among 1.5% of subjects assigned H pylori treatment and among 2.1% of those assigned placebo (hazard ratio [HR] of death = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.36 to 1.28). Garlic and vitamin treatments were associated with non-statistically significant reductions in gastric cancer incidence and mortality. Vitamin treatment was associated with statistically significantly fewer deaths from gastric or esophageal cancer, a secondary endpoint (HR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.30 to 0.87; P = .014).

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Amoxicillin / therapeutic use*
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Ascorbic Acid / pharmacology
  • China / epidemiology
  • Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic
  • Dietary Supplements
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Garlic*
  • Gastrointestinal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Helicobacter Infections / drug therapy*
  • Helicobacter Infections / epidemiology
  • Helicobacter pylori / drug effects*
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Odds Ratio
  • Omeprazole / therapeutic use*
  • Precancerous Conditions / epidemiology
  • Precancerous Conditions / microbiology
  • Precancerous Conditions / prevention & control
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Stomach Neoplasms / epidemiology*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / microbiology
  • Stomach Neoplasms / mortality
  • Stomach Neoplasms / prevention & control*
  • Vitamin E / pharmacology
  • Vitamins / administration & dosage
  • Vitamins / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Gastrointestinal Agents
  • Vitamins
  • Vitamin E
  • Amoxicillin
  • Omeprazole
  • Ascorbic Acid