female gender and helicobacter pylori infection, the most important predisposition factors in a cohort of gastric cancer: a longitudinal study

background: gastric cancer (gc) is one of the most common cancers in the world and helicobacter pylori (hp) infection is considered a causative factor. the aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and the associated factors of (gc) in a small cohort. methods: overall, 54 patients with diagnosed gastric cancer were followed-up at the department of gastroenterology & hepatology at baqiyatallah university of medical sciences. 37 (68.5%) of them were positive for h pylori infection in histopathological evaluations. univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to determine the associations of demographic features and hp infection status with gc characteristics and prognosis. results: univariate analysis showed female gender (odds ratio (or): 6.53; 95% confidence interval (95%ci): 1.59-26.8; p=0.008), and illiteracy (compared to intermediate education; or: 5.9, 95%ci: 1.37-25.43; p=0.05) were associated significantly with higher rate of hp infection. after a mean±sd follow-up duration of 254±329 months, only female gender was significantly associated with hp infection in gc (or:4.56; 95% ci: 1.0-21.76; p=0.05). h pylori positive patients had significantly higher grade of gc (or: 3.97; 95% ci: 1.0-16.16; p=0.05), and a trend toward greater gc stage (or: 4.46, 95% ci: 9.39-21.23; p=0.06). there was no association between survival rate and h pylori infection. conclusion: in the current study, we found a significant association of female gender with gn and an association of higher grade of gc with female gender. these findings may indicate a sex disparity in susceptibility to hp infection regarding gc future studies of larger populations are recommended.